The Samurai Team
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Follows Scorned Lover: The Samurai Rangers are given A LOT to think about.
1. Does Serena Stay Or Leave?

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything_

Stomping her foot on the ground, Emily shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. She was not happy. Only a couple of days after getting to the hospital, her sister had been discharged. Serena's breathing had improved, her coughing was almost completely calmed and she had no virus or infection that could be found so the doctors had no reason to keep her. There was nothing they could do for her and they had needed her bed.

Emily was more than happy that her sister was home, and when Jayden suggested she stay with the Rangers for a few weeks Emily's happiness skyrocketed. She knew the only reason her sister was staying at the Shiba House was because Jayden and everyone else was worried about Dayu or Dekker returning, and Serena wouldn't have been safe on her own at the Tengen Gate.

But the weeks had gone by and there had been no sign of Dayu or Dekker. Occasionally there had been a few scared. The Gap Sensors had been tweaked to pick up on the smallest trace of Nighlok life and so anytime they went off the Rangers were scared it was Dayu or Dekker. Thankfully, they were only regular, non-Serena-threatening Nighlok.

Hoping this meant Dekker had moved on and that Dayu was no longer interested in Serena now that she was no longer dating Dekker, many of the Rangers felt Serena was ready to go home. They had her flight scheduled for the morning and the other Guardians at the Tengen Gate were expecting Serena. Serena just wished she was feeling a little less like she was going to throw up. There was no way she was getting sick on an airplane.

"No," Emily stomped her foot again. She didn't want Serena to head home. Every time Serena went home she always came back in trouble. In some ways, things were better when Serena was ill. At least she had been kept safe and if she died, it would have been peaceful.

"Emy…"

"No, no, no," Emily shook her head. "Not happening!"

"She's got to go," Kevin said as gently as he could, "The Tengen Gate…"

"Is safe enough! You said so yourself, Serena," Emily turned to her sister. "You said the guardians could handle your absence. If they can do it for a few weeks, they're more than ready to handle guardian it from here on out."

"But Daisuke…"

"I don't care," Emily shouted. She looked around the room and saw her friends' expressions weren't changing. Her little body shook with rage, "Fine! Die! See if I care! If you leave I'm never, ever, ever helping you again!"

"Emy…"

"No! Go away! I hate you!"

Dead silence. Emily hurried out of the room in tears. She didn't want to be near her team or her sister at this point. In the hallway, she ran into Mentor Ji. She had no idea where he had come from or when he got home, but right now he was the only one who hadn't insisted they send her sister back to Japan to be Dayu's target once again. She ran into his arms and he held her tight.

Back in the common room, the Rangers were still completely silent. They knew Emily wasn't going to like the idea that her sister would be leaving, but they hadn't expected her to hate the idea this much. Not enough to turn away from her sister. Serena had the biggest shock of all. Her sister said she hated her. Deep down, she knew it wasn't true. If Emily had hated her she wouldn't have been angry enough to say it, but it still hurt. Emily had never said she hated her before.

"Serena, you have to go," Jayden whispered and he hoped Emily's words hadn't gotten Serena to change her mind.

"My flight doesn't leave until the morning," Serena shook her head and stepped forward to go after her sister.

"She's not going to change her mind," Mike said. "She'll hate you more if you try and talk to her. And if you don't, she'll hate you more for leaving without trying."

Serena stopped and sighed loudly. She turned back to the red Ranger, "Jay, do I have to go?"

"The Tengen Gate…"

"Emily made a good point," Mia said. "The other guardians seemed to be able to manage on their own when Serena's gone. Maybe…"

"No," Jayden shook his head, "Serena, you're the Elder Guardian."

"Elder?" Serena frowned at Jayden. She hated that title. She may have been the oldest of the Samurai, but she was not old. In fact, at the Tengen Gate, she was the youngest Guardian, forcing everyone to drop the Elder part of her title. She glared at the red Ranger, "Say that again and I'll send you in several boxes to Japan."

"Sorry," Jayden quickly realised his mistake, "but you know what I mean. No one can guard the Gate…"

"I've trained those other guardians pretty well, actually," Serena said. "The day before Dayu started stalking me they actually managed to kick my ass during our training session, and I had Dekker on my team! If they can defeat a supposed-to-be-Samurai-Ranger and the scariest Nighlok I've ever encountered, they can handle a few people snooping around the forest."

"But the Nighlok…"

"Only ever attacked the Tengen Gate when you were there," Serena shrugged. She looked over her shoulder and out of the room where her sister had run, "Look, I get that the fate of the world is kind of important to, well, everyone, but I don't see the point in keeping the secrets safe when they've cost me my sister."

"At least Emily would still be alive and safe," Jayden said. "If Master Xandred, or any of the Nighlok, get their hands on those secrets they could use them to kill all of us, Emily included. If the Earth floods, it won't matter how Emily feels about you."

"I just… I don't see why I have to go back," Serena said. "Not permanently, at least. The secrets are safe. Master Xandred's more concerned about you then about a bunch of scrolls and old weapons. In fact, most of the secrets there, if used by anyone, would be used against Master X. There are only a few that could harm the Samurai, and those are sealed away so securely even I couldn't break into them."

"Are you sure?" Kevin asked.

"Nothing happens at that Gate," Serena sighed loudly. "I had a lot of time to read and ex…"

Serena gagged and her hand flew to her mouth. She had been feeling a little nauseous for a couple of days, but thought it was just her nerves telling her that flying over the ocean in a large metal cage was a bad idea. She wasn't the best of flyers.

"Are you okay?" Antonio asked when Serena stopped mid-sentence and looked like she was going to throw up. Serena shook her head and raced out of the room. Mia got up after her.

The boys exchanged worried looks before Mike clapped his hands together and smiled.

"Well, problem solved," he said. "Serena can stay a little longer. We can't stick her on an airplane when she's throwing up."

Mentor Ji walked into the room at the moment with a still upset Emily. The boys' jaws all dropped when they saw their Mentor. He hadn't been around in weeks.

"Dude," Mike breathed as Mentor sat Emily down on her stool. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I apologize for my disappearance," Mentor said. "Unfortunately, after the mishap with the Stones I had a lot to think about."

"The Stones?" Antonio frowned and his muscles tensed up. He hated the Stones.

"I made a terrible choice," Mentor nodded. "I asked Jayden to go behind all your backs and continue programming the Black Box. My intention was not to hurt, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Wait," Kevin looked at his mentor, "_you_ were the one who lied to us?"

"This was my mistake," Jayden said, coming to Mentor Ji's defence. "It was Mentor's plan, but as leader it's my responsibility to…"

"I don't care," Kevin shook his head, "Neither of you should be plotting to kill us!"

Mentor Ji lowered his head. He placed his hands on Emily's shoulders and took a deep breathe, "It is for that reason that I will no longer be the mentor for the Samurai Rangers."

All eyes widened as everyone in the room turned to Mentor Ji, "What?"

"Mentor," Jayden said, "it was a mistake. You didn't think it would hurt the Rangers. I'm the one who made the bad call. I'm the leader."

"I asked you to lie to the Rangers," Mentor shook his head. "I asked you to manipulate their trust. Until you all feel safe in my hands, and until I can forgive myself for making such a terrible mistake, I will not be asking any of you to trust me and my decisions."

"Okay, no, slow down," Kevin blinked rapidly, trying to sort this problem out, "This is a big issue, Mentor, but you… even if we don't want to trust you, you still know the most about…"

"Jayden had a deep understanding of symbol power," Mentor interrupted. "He will be able to help you there. Mia has read almost all the books of the Samurai History. Kevin, you've always been able to keep the team on top of their training, and Mike will no doubt remind you all to take breaks and relax. Antonio has shown he will keep going, no matter what, and I'm sure he will be able to remind you all why you're fighting. Emily will keep you from tearing each other apart."

"Are you actually quitting?" Mike asked.

Mentor squeezed Emily's shoulders gently as he nodded to Mike, "I hope this will only temporary. Until then, I trust you will be able to take care of yourselves."

"But, what if…"

"I won't, however, leave you all without someone in charge. Someone who will make the ultimate decisions in case none of you can agree," Mentor looked down at Emily, "Your sister will be asked to stay, at least for a little while longer. As Guardian of the Tengen Gate it is her responsibility to ensure that the secrets of the Samurai are safe. If the Samurai fail in battle, the secrets are worthless. There is no point in guarding worthless secrets."

Emily's eyes widened in pure happiness as she turned around and jumped up into Mentor's arms. Kevin, Jayden, Mike and Antonio looked around at each other.

"Problem solved?" Kevin asked and they all shrugged their shoulders.


	2. Girl Talk

Mia brushed Serena's hair behind her shoulders and stroked her back gently. Serena was sitting beside the toilet after heaving up everything she had eaten since breakfast. It wasn't a pleasant sight, and a far from pleasant smell, but at least it seemed like it was all over.

"Are you sure you didn't eat some of Mike's pickle pizza?" Mia asked again. Serena shook her head.

"Don't talk about food, please," she begged and Mia nodded slowly. She checked the older girl's forehead for a temperature but found Serena felt perfectly normal for what she had just gone through.

"Serena…"

"It could just be nerves," Serena muttered. "I'm not exactly comfortable flying."

"After sitting next to Emily on the plane I can believe that," Mia said. "You Earth Samurais like the ground, don't you?"

"If we were meant to fly, we would have wings," Serena nodded. "I haven't gotten sick before flying before, but with everything else going on: Dekker, my sister… everything…"

"Do you want to talk?" Mia asked as she got comfortable next to Serena on the floor. Serena hadn't spoken much about what had happened between her and Dekker. The Samurai knew he had kept her alone in a room for a week, where she had gotten progressively sicker until he took her to the hospital, but she didn't say more than that. She hadn't wanted to speak about it, or Dekker. It was understandable. It had been rather traumatic for the should-be-yellow. But maybe now was the time to get it all out. If someone else knew her secrets it would help greatly.

Mia took Serena's hand gently, "If you're ready, I'll listen," Serena still seemed reluctant, so Mia added: "I won't say a word to anyone. I promise. It'll stay between you and me."

Serena breathed out heavily as she turned her gaze to Mia, "Dekker thinks it started the night before Dayu started stalking me… well, before Dekker realised Dayu was stalking me."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how Dayu's crazy possessive over Dekker and no one's really figured out why," Mia nodded her head so Serena continued, "Well… apparently she must have seen Dekker and I, well, we…."

"You…?"

"We slept together," Serena closed her eyes and waited to be yelled at. Silence filled the bathroom. When she turned to look at Mia she saw the pink Ranger's eyes were open wide. Very wide. Serena narrowed her own eyes, "Oh, don't look so mortified. You and I both know I'm not the first to give it up."

"Sorry," Mia shook her head, clearing her face of her shocked expression, "it's just… Dekker."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but it wasn't the Dekker you guys know. Lately he had been the sweet, kind, gentle Dekker; a man that puts Kevin, Mike, Jayden and Antonio to shame. When he told me it was his birthday, I wanted to make it special."

"Like that?" Mia asked. Serena shook her head.

"I didn't plan on ending the night like that," she said. "I didn't know I was ready until right before it happened. Dekker and I spent the day together just… having so much fun, I was so much more in love with him and it just, happened."

"Where does Dayu factor into all of this?" Mia asked.

"Apparently she left a note for Dekker. He started to panic and did what he could to keep me safe… he kind of went overboard, though, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Mia stated with a firm nod.

"He didn't tell me about it right away. He was just so eager to take me away with him. I was worried at first, scared, even. There was something about him that was different and unsettling. We traveled to different places and when I kept stopping to ask him to explain he would grab me. When we finally came here, that's when he told me. I forgave him for taking me away. I guess I shouldn't have…"

"You didn't know," Mia breathed softly and squeezed Serena's hand. "Dekker's a protective guy. You thought he would keep you safe."

"He took it too far," Serena could feel the tears starting up in her eyes as she thought about her week from hell. "I broke up with him because I realised he didn't give a damn about me. My happiness didn't matter. I was miserable in that prison and I made sure he knew it, but he kept telling me he didn't want me to get hurt. For a little while, I thought he was going to keep me there forever. I couldn't get away, if he wanted it, I could have been his until I died. He never touched me and I'm thankful for that, but that didn't stop my fears. I fell out of love."

"He was just…" Mia thought of making an excuse for Dekker, but when she looked at the upset Serena she knew he wasn't worth the breath. He had hurt her. He didn't deserve someone defending him. Mia wrapped her arm around Serena, "It must have hurt."

"He turned into a monster," Serena nodded. "In about a week I saw him go from kind, loving, caring to this selfish, mean, dangerous beast. Whenever the door was opened so he could feed me, if I had the strength I would run. He always grabbed me and threw me down. At one point he grabbed my neck. He was killing me and he didn't know it."

"He must have figured it out."

"He did," Serena nodded. "He looked upset by it, but not enough to change back into the man I fell in love with. He just walked away and he left me locked up."

Mia hugged the older Samurai and sat with her in silence, offering what she could to comfort Serena.

Serena spoke up after a few moments, breaking the silence, "Do you know what's sick?" Mia shook her head, "I still want him," Serena whispered, "I want him back."

"You want the good Dekker," Mia explained. "You want to go back to perfect. There's nothing wrong with that…"

"Did I make a mistake?" Serena asked, turning to Mia, hoping she would have an answer. "With Dekker, I mean, did I…?"

"Falling in love with him?" Mia shook her head, "No. If you're talking about sleeping with him… that depends. In hindsight, maybe you could have waited. But whether or not it was a mistake is something you'll have to figure out for yourself."

"I don't feel like figuring things out," Serena huffed.

Mia smiled sympathetically and it was then a question came to mind. She didn't know why she thought of it, but it seemed like a good question to ask.

"Serena, when you and Dekker, you know… it was spur of the moment but were you guys… prepared?"

"Prepared?" Serena furrowed her brow as she tried to decode the meaning. Suddenly, it hit her and she glared at Mia, "Of course we were prepared, what do you think I… oh… shit…"

"What?" Mia frowned. "What does that mean?"

"That was my rehearsed response," Serena explained, "You know, in case Emily ever found out and asked me…"

"If that was rehearsed, what's the truth?" Mia looked suspicious and Serena knew she had a right to be. Fresh tears filled her eyes and again she felt like she was going to be sick. Her hand strayed to her stomach. Mia could almost figure out what this meant, but she was hiding behind denial, hoping Serena had been smart enough to protect herself, "Serena…"

Serena looked nervously at Mia and when the pink Ranger gestured for an answer Serena shook her head. "Serena!"

"I'm the first woman at the Gate in years!" Serena cried. "They didn't need… you know, and I guess they never thought to…"

"You idiot!" Mia slapped the older girl on the shoulder. "Do you realise what this might mean?"

Serena's eyes widened for a moment before she shook her head and pointed to the toilet, "No. No, Mia, what just happened here and what happened with Dekker… it's completely unrelated. I mean… wouldn't it… could he still?"

"He's got the body of a twenty-year old, you moron!" Mia shouted.

"Stop calling me names," Serena pouted and curled up into a ball.

"Serena, you could be…"

"Don't say it!" Serena's hand flew to Mia's mouth. "Please, don't say it!"

Mia removed Serena's hand and then grabbed it. She got to her feet and tried to pull Serena with her, "You have to tell them."

"No!" Serena yanked her hand away, "No, I can't!"

"If you don't I will!"

"You promised!" Serena reminded me. "You promised anything I said would be between us."

"Technically you haven't said it."

"But you can't tell the others I might be pregnant without telling them what I told you," Serena said. She took Mia's hand back and held it tight as she begged, "Please, Mia. Don't do this!"

"I… you… but…"

Suddenly there was a knock on the door before Emily's voice called, "Mia? Serena? Mentor Ji wants to talk to you before he leaves tomorrow. Are you still in there?"

Serena ran to the door and locked it so Emily couldn't get into the bathroom. She then turned to Mia, grabbed her tightly by the upper arms and whispered, "You can't tell her."

"She needs to know," Mia hissed, keeping her voice low. "She's your sister."

"My baby sister," Serena nodded. "This would crush her."

"And when are you going to tell her if you are pregnant?" Mia asked. "Are you going to pretend you swallowed a basketball? How the hell are you going to hide a half-Nighlok child?"

"Quarter," Serena frowned and Mia growled.

"Now's not the time to worry about the little details."

"Are you two in there?" Emily's voice called again and she tried the doorknob but it wouldn't spin. "Serena?"

"Can it at least wait?" Serena asked Mia. "If she doesn't have to find out… If I'm not…"

Mia pointed to her cast, "Tomorrow, when this is coming off, you're going to talk to the doctor. If he tells you you're pregnant, you'll tell Emily. No putting it off, no beating around the bush. No waiting to see what happens."

"So, right away?"

"Of course!" Mia shouted but kept her voice low so Emily wouldn't hear. "And if you don't tell her, I don't care what deal I made with you. I am not lying to her."

"Serena?" this time Emily's voice sounded a little more panicked. Serena knew she had to hurry and open the door before Emily started to think the worst had happened. She glared at Mia.

"Fine."

"Good," Mia pointed to the door, "She might be worried because of Dayu. You should let her in."

Serena unlocked the door and it instantly flew open. Emily jumped into her sister's arms, relieved she was okay.

"Why didn't you answer?" she asked. "I thought…"

"I thought you hated me," Serena tried to tease her sister to lighten the mood. Emily lowered her head and Mia simply looked disappointed.

Emily stepped away from her sister, "I'm sorry… I…"

"I know you didn't mean it, Emy," Serena hugged the yellow Ranger tight. When Emily wasn't looking, Serena glanced over at Mia. The pink Ranger shook her head and then gently took Emily's arm.

"You said Mentor was leaving?" she asked, pulling Emily from Serena. "Why?"

"He wants to talk to you," Emily said. "He'll tell you all about it."

"Do you know where he's going?"

Emily nodded, "He said he'll trade places with Serena. He wants to see for himself how well the guardians at the Gate can do their job."

"Why's he doing that?" Serena asked. "I trained them myself. I would know if…"

"He'll tell you everything," Emily assured the two girls. "Now hurry up, he can't wait forever!"


	3. Waiting To Find Out

With a heavy heart, Mentor stood by the door to the Shiba House, ready to leave. He had explained everything to Mia and Serena, and he was touched that, like the others, they didn't want to see him leave, but he knew it was for the best. He had made a big mistake. A huge error of judgement that shouldn't have been made and the consequences of his mistakes never fell on him, but on his children. He couldn't ask them to trust him and he couldn't trust himself to make the right choices with this mistake so fresh in his mind. He needed to get away.

He had offered Serena his position. Until his return he had made it her responsibility to look after the Rangers. He knew she would do a good job. She had shown many times just how far she was willing to go to keep the Rangers safe. Nothing was worth putting the team in danger, not even the weapon inside the Black Box.

He also trusted that the Rangers would do well without him. They all had their strengths and weakness and they all worked together to keep the team one step ahead of Master Xandred. He knew this would continue in his absence.

"If the guardians can handle their responsibility, Serena, you may be able to stay," Mentor said as she hugged him goodbye.

"We'll figure that out once you get back," Serena nodded. "Just make sure you keep the place safe, alright? And no wandering around. Trust me, there are some secrets you're better off not knowing."

"Keep the Rangers safe," Mentor smiled faintly, "Do not do as I have done. Do not lie to them. Do not ask them to lie for you."

Serena felt Mia's glare burning into the back of her head. She gulped and nodded.

"You don't have to leave, Mentor," Mike looked at his shoes, "I mean, we're mad you put the Stones before us, but we didn't kick Jayden out."

"You just ignored me for weeks," Jayden said.

"Exactly," Mike nodded, "We'll ignore you."

"You already do that, Mike," Mentor chuckled. "This is for the best. I left my number in the kitchen. I will always be available if you need me. Day or night."

"When are you coming home?" Emily asked.

"When we all feel ready," Mentor smiled. "Until then, enjoy your sister's company."

"I'll take advantage of it," Emily smiled back. This was bittersweet for her. On one hand, she didn't want to see Mentor leaving. She couldn't believe he had misled her and her friends, but he was still their mentor. On the other hand, she was happy Serena got to stay with her longer. She pulled Mentor into a final goodbye hug, "But we'll still miss you."

Mentor squeezed Emily and looked at the rest of the Rangers. Now it was time. He gave Emily a pat on the back, at which she let go. Antonio handed Mentor his suitcase and passport. With a final wave, the older man was gone.

The Rangers looked at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to do now. They felt a huge change in the atmosphere now that Mentor was gone. It was only temporary, but it was still a big shock.

Thankfully, Mia didn't have to sit through the awkwardness anymore. She had something to do.

"My appointment's in an hour," she said, "If I get there early I might get in early."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Kevin offered. Mia wished she could say yes, but for Serena's sake she had to refuse.

"That's fine. I was actually thinking Serena and I could go together and then we could stop for coffee afterwards."

"Why?" the boys and Emily all asked. It didn't surprise them that Mia and Serena wanted to hang out. What was odd was that they were making plans to do so. Usually, unless it was a date, hanging out just happened. No one planned it. Lately, even the dates were a little more _when it happens, it happens_.

"Is it not allowed?" Mia asked as she grabbed her jacket. The boys and Emily shrugged. Mia turned to Serena, "Do you want to come?"

Serena knew she didn't have a choice in the matter. She was only tagging on because she was going to get tested to see if she was pregnant, "Sure."

"Great," Mia tossed Serena her jacket and led her away, "Let's go."

Emily pouted when the girls were gone. She then looked at Kevin, "Mia's a sister hog."

"You'll have plenty of time with her, I'm sure," Kevin chuckled and ruffled Emily's hair. The youngest Ranger frowned until Mike wrapped his arms around her.

"Well, seeing as there's no hanging out with Serena right now…?"

"I can spend time with you!" Emily giggled, spinning around in his arms to face him, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"I'll get started on lunch," Antonio chuckled as he turned away from the Rangers in love. "Any requests?"

-Samurai-

The appointment had gone smoothly. A doctor managed to squeeze Serena in for a blood test after Mia had her cast removed from her arm. Now all the girls had to do was wait.

"Twenty-four to forty-eight hours," Mia quoted the doctor as she adjusted the brace on her wrist. Her muscles were a little weak after being locked in the cast for many weeks, so the doctor had advised her to wear the brace and gave her some exercises to do to build the muscle back up.

"I thought you would go for the pink one," Serena gestured to the black brace. Mia glared up at her.

"Don't change the subject," she said. "How are you going to tell her?"

"If I'm pregnant I'll figure it out," Serena pointed down the street. "Look, there's a coffee shop."

"If we stop for coffee you know what we'll be talking about."

"Why do I feel like I've done something wrong?" Serena sighed loudly. "Look, it was a mistake…"

"And I get that," Mia nodded. "You can't go back and fix it and there's nothing you can do about the fact that you might be carrying a Nighlok…"

"Quarter Nighlok."

"Whatever. You're not hiding this from Emily. Regardless of the results, she's going to find out sooner or later."

"She doesn't have to."

"If you're not pregnant, then what you do with Dekker… or to Dekker, is your own business. But these things slip out. How do you think she'll feel when she learns you went through this without talking to her?"

"This isn't easy for me," Serena said. "This doesn't feel like there's a good or bad choice. It's not simple."

"I know…"

"Mia," Serena grabbed the pink Ranger's arm and tugged, stopping her in her tracks. Mia looked up at her.

"What?"

"I could be pregnant with the child of the man who tried to kill all of you," Serena said. "And truth be told, that's not what worries me."

"What does?"

"If there is a little Dekker in there… a Nighlok… it doesn't matter how small his Nighlok half is… what's going to happen?"

"We'll figure that out," Mia promised.

"This is the Nighlok child of the man who killed so many people. So many innocent people to, and he tried to kill so many more. My sister included. How am I supposed to bring something like that into this world? Emily's niece or nephew is going to be…"

"Nothing like its father," Mia assured Serena. "If you're trying to tell me the little baby's going to be plotting to kill its aunt, just like its father was… that's funny."

"But…"

"We don't know how this works," Mia said. "How are Nighlok born? Does it work with humans?"

"But…"

"If you were pregnant with a Nighlok right now, I'm sure you would be activating all the Gap Sensors in the city," Mia smiled. "We've programmed them to be super sensitive after you told us what Dekker and Dayu did."

"Are you sure?"

"We'll figure it out," Mia promised Serena again. "But we can't figure it out alone. You have to tell her."

"After the doctor calls," Serena said.

-Samurai-

After a long flight and a long walk to the Tengen Gate, Mentor had finally arrived. Anytime he visited the gate he was marvelled by it. It was so big and held so much history; he couldn't wait to have a look around. He did remember Serena told him not to look up the secrets and he would respect her wishes, but it wouldn't hurt to study a few of the history books. The more he could learn about the Samurai's battled against the Nighlok, the better off the Rangers would be.

He was greeted by one guardian. The others were off in the gardens training. Mentor was impressed by their skills. For centuries, only the Elder Guardian had even been skilled enough to challenge the Nighlok while all the other guardians were just there to be the eyes and ears. Their responsibility was to care for and maintain the Temple.

"Serena's definitely wiped you all into shape," Mentor commented as the guardian took his bags. The man nodded his head.

"She's worked us hard," he said. "Daisuke was never able to train us all."

"And yet, Serena managed to bring you all up to her level in only a few months."

"She's a little scary," the man chuckled.

"You haven't met her mother," Mentor nodded.

"We understood why she wanted us to train," the man said to Mentor. "Whenever she would talk, even when it was with Dekker, most of what she would say would be about her family. She missed them and she would always tell us that one day she would leave. We needed to be ready."

Mentor stroked his chin, "It seems Serena never intended on staying."

"Which is weird," the man said. "Daisuke wouldn't have asked her to be Guardian if he thought she was going to leave."

"The Guardian's role it to ensure the Tengen Gate is safe," Mentor reminded the man. "Serena's style may be different from her former Guardians, but it seems just as effective. Maybe Daisuke always knew she was going to leave."

"Are you sure?"

"Are you sure it was Serena's destiny to stay here permanently?" Mentor said before bowing to the man, "You may call me Ji."

"Osamu," the man bowed politely. "Welcome to the Tengen Gate."


	4. The Doctor's Call

Serena found early morning training to be very difficult. Not only was she expected to be awake before most of the Rangers so she could _encourage _them (drag them kicking and screaming) out of bed at an ungodly hour, but she had woken up feeling nauseous.

She didn't think she was sick, though she really hoped she had caught a flu, or virus, or anything except morning sickness. She didn't care if she was terminally ill again. If she was pregnant, she was going to die by her sister's hands anyways, and if Emily couldn't kill her, surely her parents would when they found out.

The worst part about it all was that she couldn't talk to the Rangers about it. She had to force a smile, even in front of Mia. Her sister and the boys had no idea what she was going through, and she didn't want them to worry. If it turned out to be nothing, she would have put them through a lot of stress for nothing.

"Okay, something's not working," Serena heard Mike say and she was snapped out of her thoughts. She looked over at the yard and saw the green Ranger was several feet above the ground. He had grown a small tree using his symbol power, but a branch had caught his belt and lifted him up. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"If that happened in battle you would be dead," she said. She turned to her sister, "Emy, whack him for me, would you?"

"Why?"

"He's got to learn to focus."

"I'll whack him," Kevin smirked and he took Emily's sword from her hands. Mike curled up into a ball, pulling his legs up as high as possible.

"No, dude, you're going to hurt me!"

"Calm down, you baby. I was only teasing," Kevin poked the branch that snagged Mike with the sword. Too weak to take the pressure, it snapped in half and Mike was sent into the dirt.

"I thought you were only teasing," Mike groaned and spit the dirt from his mouth.

"I didn't whack you," Kevin chuckled. He gave Emily her sword back and returned to his own training. Emily knelt down next to Mike.

"Are you okay?"

"I love you, Em," Mike was now scratching the dirt off his tongue, "but, uh, not this much."

Emily chuckled, "I'll get you some peas. You're going to feel that in a few minutes."

She placed her sword on the ground next to Mike and made her way inside the house. As she walked through the hallways she thought she heard a ringing noise coming from the jackets by the door. She ignored it at first. She had been training for hours and sometimes when she got really tired her mind would play with her senses. The grabbed the peas from the back of the freezer and race back to the yard.

On her way to the yard, though, she stopped right as she was about to open the door. She heard the ringing again. She turned to the jackets and saw the ringing was coming from the jacket Serena had used the day before. Cradling the bag of peas in one arm, Emily began to dig through the jacket. Her original intention was to bring the phone to Serena, but as soon as she pulled it out and glanced at the screen she saw a number that seemed very familiar.

The phone continued to ring and Emily knew she didn't have long before whoever was on the other end was forced to leave a message. She glanced at the door and then back at the phone. The number didn't belong to her parents, or Mentor Ji, or the Tengen Gate, and surely it wasn't one of the Rangers calling. Emily couldn't quite put her finger on who the number belonged to, but she knew it had been an important number to remember.

She decided to pick it up. Now her intention was to answer the phone before the person on the other end hung up. She would then hand it over to her sister.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Dr. Conway from the hospital. Is this Serena?"

Emily's heart froze. Her face went pale. The peas dropped from her hand and the phone nearly went with them. Emily's eyes darted to the door and for a moment she thought about pretending to be her sister.

She shook her head, but the thought didn't go away. Serena hadn't mentioned going to the hospital. Aside from getting Mia's cast off, Serena hadn't gone near the building since they had taken her home. And, while she had been treated, none of the doctors had been named Dr. Conway.

As Emily continued to think, she remembered Mia and Serena had been gone for a really long time the day before. Too long, really.

"Yes, this is she," Emily answered, hoping it didn't sound like a lie. Technically, her name could have been Serena… if she had been born first.

"We got the results back from the lab this morning. You seemed very eager yesterday to know what they were so I looked over them myself and thought I would call you personally."

"Results?" Emily squeaked. "My results for…?"

"The pregnancy test you took yesterday."

Emily blinked. It took her a moment to respond. She couldn't believe her sister was asking for a pregnancy test. She felt sick to her stomach even before finding out the result. She barely had time to hear them before everything suddenly faded to black.

-Samurai-

At the Tengen Gate, Mentor Ji had a lot of time to himself. To his surprise, the guardians were really on top of their game. There were many of them, so the Tengen Gate had eyes watching the perimeter at all hours of the day. When Mentor first decided to trade places with Serena, he had thought he would have to take on the role as acting Elder Guardian to keep the others on their toes, but their knew what to do, they knew how to do it, and they were doing an excellent job.

Osamu approached Mentor Ji as the man finished meditation, "You seem strangely relaxed."

"This is turning out to be a wonderful vacation," Mentor Ji admitted. "I have plenty of time to think of my mistakes and how to prevent them from happening in the future and I need not worry about the safety of the Tengen Gate."

"Are you sure?" Osamu asked. "We're all kind of paranoid something's going to happen."

"Guarding such a sacred monument is a heavy responsibility, but you all seem to share it evenly," Mentor said.

"Serena had us on a strict routine. Our day's usually divided into four: training, sleeping, resting and guarding."

"It works. The Tengen Gate has never been so efficient. If a Nighlok were to show up, I have every confidence they wouldn't make it inside."

"Are you saying we can do this on our own?" Osamu asked before shaking his head, "Ji, Serena needs to return! The Guardian…"

"Has done a wonderful job protecting the Gate," Mentor smiled before gesturing to the one wing under repair, "If I were to be picky…"

"That happened the night Serena and Dekker disappeared," Osamu explained. "Once it'll be completed soon."

"Do you know how it happened?"

"We think it was Dayu," Osamu said. "She got in here again."

Mentor frowned. There was one little hiccup.

"How did she get inside the Gate?" he asked. "Were you not?"

"Serena didn't see her coming."

"Were you not all keeping watch?"

"Serena…"

Mentor stroked his chin thoughtfully, "It was Serena's duty."

"She is the Guardian."

"Are you not the guardians as well?"

"Yes, but…"

"You do a wonderful job when she is not around," Mentor pointed out. "The Temple is so well protected I have no doubt the Nighlok will stay away. And yet, when Serena is here, mistakes happen."

"Serena's an excellent Guardian," Osamu was quick to defend his senior. "She had warded off lost travellers, prevented thefts from misguided robbers. She has done everything she could to keep this place safe."

"You rely too much on your Guardian," Mentor placed a hand on Osamu's shoulder. "She cannot keep her eyes open all day. Not by herself."

-Samurai-

"Where's Emily with the peas?" Mike asked as he rubbed his ribs. "She wasn't kidding about the pain."

"Maybe that'll teach you to watch where you plant your symbols," Antonio chuckled and then proceeded to mimic Mike dangling in the tree. He failed his arms and legs around just to add extra humour. "Help! Help! I'm stuck in a tree! I can't get down!"

"This coming from the guy who got his fishing hook stuck in his pants when he first turned up," Mike tossed his sweaty towel at Antonio, "And by the way, I didn't cry for help."

"No, you just hung there like a piñata," Antonio chuckled.

"You should have whacked him," Jayden smirked to Kevin and then shot Mike a playful look. The green Ranger frowned and crossed his arms.

"You're all mean!" he then wrapped an arm around Mia, who was the only person who hadn't teased him yet today, "You'll stick up for me, right?"

Mia rolled her eyes and laughed.

Serena sat down with the Rangers after taking a walk around the yard to make sure there were no remaining traces of symbols left. The last thing any of them needed was a fire starting, a flood in the yard, a tornado to rip through, or another person-snatching tree. As she took a seat she noticed Mike rubbing his ribs.

"Emily's still not back yet?" she asked. Mike shook his head and pushed himself up.

"I'm going to check up on her," he said. "She's normally pretty quick."

As he walked to the house he heard the others were starting to lazily get up to follow him. Antonio especially was being lazy and goofy, pretending to keep falling over because he was too weak and tired to stand.

He pushed the front door open and gasped loudly at the sight before him. Emily was out cold on the floor. The bag of peas was right near her feet and a little ways away from her was a cell phone. Scruffy was also with her, nudging her arm with his nose.

Mike dropped down next to his girlfriend, ignoring the worried dog.

"Emily!" he shouted and suddenly he heard stomping as the others raced into the house. While the others stood in shock, Mike gently tapped Emily on the cheek, praying she would wake up.

"Emily," he called her name loudly, waiting for a response. By now Serena was also next to her sister and Kevin was holding the dog away.

"Emy?" she sounded terrified. It was short lived. Mike managed to awaken the yellow Ranger with gentle, repeated tap to the cheek.

"Thank God," Mike breathed, touching her face gently as he laid her down flat on her back. "Emily, are you okay?"

"What happened?" Jayden asked, worried.

Emily didn't answer but tears welled up in her eyes. The very same thing happened to Mike and he laid down on his stomach next to Emily. He stuck close to her but gave her enough room to breathe and recover.

"You'll be fine," he whispered in her ear as he kissed the side of her face.

Worried for her best friend, Mia looked around the room for any sign of danger. There were a number of reasons why Emily could have passed out. She could have hit her head and blacked out, something could have fallen… anything out of the ordinary was a clue.

The bag of peas didn't alarm Mia, but the cell phone on the floor was rather suspicious. The Rangers were usually careful with where they put their electronics. Scruffy would chew almost anything he found on the floor.

She picked up the phone and saw it belonged to Serena. Curious as to why it was out, Mia did a little investigating. She had seen Serena putting it away after giving the doctor her cell phone number, and she knew Serena wouldn't leave it lying on the floor. So there had to be a reason, and if it was related to Emily's passing out, Mia wanted to know.

She checked the text messages first but the inbox was empty. Biting her lip, Mia then went to check recent calls. None had been dialled since before Serena arrived at the Shiba House, but there was one incoming call that was very recent. Mia checked the number and gasped softly.

"What?" Antonio was close enough to hear her. Mia looked past him and straight to Serena. She showed the older Samurai the phone and then tossed it to her so Serena could read for herself. It was Serena's turn to gasp.

"What?" Antonio asked again.

Mike, whose only focus was Emily, didn't hear the gasps or see the phone passing from Mia to Serena; he knew Emily was coming to more and more and thought it was now safe to move her. He helped her sit up and wrapped her in his arms. She was beginning to sob at this point and was asking him to take her away. He shook his head and ran his hand through her hair gently, checking for bumps or blood.

"Not until we're sure you're okay," he told her softly. "Do you remember what happened?"

Emily buried her face into the crook of his neck. Mike sighed. He knew he wouldn't win this battle. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up to take her to bed.

"Go with her," Mia told the boys. "Serena and I will look around for anything that could have hurt her."

"We'll do that," Jayden insisted. "You're her sisters, she'll…"

"We'll be right in," Serena promised. Jayden, Antonio and Kevin exchanged suspicious looks before doing as they were told.

On the way, Kevin muttered: "They're hogging each other."

Jayden glanced over his shoulder, "Something's up."

"Guys," Antonio called their attention and then pointed to Emily and Mike's bedroom "Don't you think that can wait?"

Back at the front door, Serena waited for the boys to turn the corner before falling onto her back and groaning loudly.

"She knows," Mia whispered. Serena looked up at the pink Ranger.

"She can't. That's private information. The doctor wouldn't…"

"Any idiot can lie to a doctor about their identity over the phone," Mia said. "That's the number you gave the doctor. You told him it was your personal phone. He could have easily mistaken Emily for you."

"Okay, so she knows," Serena sighed in frustration. Mia paced back and forth.

"The problem is, we don't know. We don't know what the doctor said. We don't know how he told her," Mia glared down at Serena, "I told you, you should have spoken to her."

"Mia…"

"Now she'll be breaking the news to you," Mia threw her hands up in the air. "The person you've been trying to keep secrets from knows and she's got your answers!"

"Like I planned this," Serena shouted, though she kept her voice low enough so the Rangers wouldn't hear. "Mia, I'm living a nightmare right now!"

"I…" Mia gazed down at Serena saw she was upset. She sunk down to her knees before the eldest Samurai and pulled her in for a hug. "I'm sorry."

"What do I do?" Serena asked. "How do I…? Should I…?"

"Let's just… look around here and make sure nothing did hurt her," Mia helped Serena to her feet. "We'll figure this out."

"The others are going to kill me."

"No they won't," Mia took Serena's hand, "We'll get through this. Just trust me."


	5. Serena Gets Her Answer

While walking around inside the Temple, Mentor Ji had stumbled upon a few of Daisuke's personal belongings. He had no idea where the former Guardian had disappeared to, or if he would ever come home, so he hesitated to search through them. He looked at the journal he held in his hands and then sighed loudly as Osamu walked in.

"I still don't understand," Osamu said, "How are we supposed to protect the Tengen Gate without a Guardian?"

"I see over fifty guardians protecting the Gate," Mentor Ji gestured to the cushions on the floor and the two men took a seat. Osamu breathed out loudly before looking over to Mentor Ji.

"I apologize," he bowed his head slightly. "I have failed to ask what troubles you."

"I have let the Samurai Rangers down," Mentor breathed a heavy sigh. "It is my duty to protect them and I put them in harm's way. I cannot forgive myself for that."

"What did you do?" Osamu asked.

"Have you heard of the Stones of the Samurai?"

"Daisuke spent years trying to find information on them," Osamu nodded, "He came up with nothing."

"They are powerful Stones," Mentor Ji said. "More powerful than I imagined. They do not take kindly to being used. They were the missing pieces to the Black Box. I thought, if we programmed them, the Rangers would be better off. I was sorely mistaken. My blue Ranger suffered a great deal, but that didn't stop me. I insisted the red Ranger lie to his team and press on. He did. The yellow Ranger and the green Ranger were the next two targets. They suffered even more."

"You knew they would suffer and yet you still forced them to go through with it?"

Mentor shook his head, "I thought the Stones would cease to resist. I thought the more that were programmed, the easier it would get."

"Why?"

"They were made to work together as one."

"Then, it was a fair judgement," Osamu shrugged his shoulders. "You had no way of knowing the outcome."

"I lied to my Rangers," Mentor sighed.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Osamu said but that only caused Mentor Ji to feel worse. Osamu placed his hand on Mentor's shoulder. "You know, families lie to each other all the time. It's normal."

"They do not put each other in terrible danger," Mentor said. "Osamu, I don't have children. None of my own. These Rangers, they're all I have."

"If you were a horrible person, you would not be here feeling regret," Osamu said. "Take the time you need here. You're welcome to stay as long as you need. But you cannot protect the Rangers from here. Not unless they give you a full day's warning before getting into danger so you can hop on a plane."

Mentor JI chuckled and smiled, "Thank you."

-Samurai-

Serena sat on the steps outside, unable to face her sister. She was sure Emily knew her results and it had to of been a big shock to her. A terrible shock, given Emily's reaction.

Serena fiddled with the phone in her hand until a shadow was cast over her. She furrowed her brow, looked up and gasped.

"Dekker!"

"Do not scream, please," Dekker begged, stepping away from Serena so as not to frighten her. "I have made a mistake. A huge mistake."

"I won't take you back," Serena shook her head. "There's nothing you can say…"

"I love you."

"I don't want to hear it," Serena growled. She stood up in front of Dekker and glared at him. "You hurt me."

"I'm sorry."

"You kidnapped me!"

"I'm sorry."

"You almost killed me!"

"I'm sorry."

"Damn you, Dekker," Serena turned away as her eyes began to water. Dekker didn't make a move to comfort her. It wasn't his place. She didn't want him anymore. Serena sniffed, "Go away before I change my mind."

"I never meant to hurt you," Dekker whispered. "My only desire was your safety. I let it get out of hand. I put you in danger, not Dayu. I should never have…"

"Don't you dare take back that night," Serena spun around and shouted. "That night's the only piece of hope I hold onto. You were human, Dekker! I never loved you more than I did that night and I will never, ever regret that."

"It will always be special to me, Serena," Dekker nodded. "You will always be special. Even long after you have passed; you will always hold place in my heart. I never want to see you in danger or as upset as you were in our last few days. It is for that reason that I am leaving."

"W-what?" Serena stammered. Dekker looked down at her with a heavy heart. She was crying by now and it killed him.

"You have never been in as much danger as you were with me," Dekker sighed. "As long as you are with me, Dayu will try to tear us apart. I hope you can find happiness elsewhere, Serena."

"Where will you go?" Serena asked.

"Far away," Dekker promised her. He stepped forward and took her hands gently in his. He looked into her eyes, "I will never hurt you again. I will never let anything hurt you again."

Serena pulled her hands free and turned away from Dekker, "Then get lost."

"Serena…"

Serena placed her hand on her stomach as another wave of nausea hit. She gulped loudly. He would never know whether or not she was carrying his child.

"If you love me, then go away."

Serena didn't hear another word, but she heard Dekker's footsteps in the grass as he walked away. Her lip quivered. It hurt her so much to hear him leaving, but she knew she had to do it. She would not trust him again.

-Samurai-

Kevin grabbed Emily's chin. "Hold still," he said as he tried to look into her eyes to check her pupils. After finding her on the floor he wanted to make sure she didn't have a concussion. Emily was being fussy.

"Go away!"

"Emily, let him do this," Jayden tried to help but it only made Emily more fidgety. She pulled away from Kevin and fell into Mike's arms. He wrapped up her and kissed the top of her head.

"She's not ready," he whispered to the boys.

"I don't care if she's ready or not," Kevin frowned, "if she has a concussion…"

Kevin trailed off as he looked down at Emily. Something was upsetting her. Something big. He placed his hand on her leg and sighed, "What happened, Em? You can tell us."

"Don't push it, Kevin," Mia said as she walked in with a bag of ice. The peas were already starting to thaw so this was the best they could do for Emily. She wrapped it in a towel and handed it to Mike. He pressed it gently on Emily's head where a small bump was forming.

"Fine," Kevin grumbled. "Emily, seeing as you won't let me check you out, you have a concussion."

"I don't care," Emily whispered.

"How bad will depend on whether or not you wake up tomorrow."

"Kevin!" Antonio scolded. "You'll scare her."

"She scared me," Kevin looked at Emily, "Please, Em. Just let me check."

"You're not a doctor."

"I took a first aid course right before coming here. Graduate with perfect marks. I'll know if it's serious."

"It's not!"

"Em. Five minutes."

Emily rolled her eyes and agreed reluctantly to let Kevin finish checking her out. He couldn't find much wrong with her. Not enough to be alarming yet. Her head hurt from the fall and there was the bump, but that was about it.

"You're lucky."

"I told you," Emily leaned back into Mike and Kevin got off the bed. Jayden looked over to Emily, a worried expression on his face.

"Can you tell us what happened?" he asked. "How did you…?"

"No," Emily shook her head. "I won't talk to you about it. Where's my sister?"

"Outside," Mia whispered.

"I want to…" Emily tried to push herself off the bed but Mike grabbed her and held her back. The boys and Mia all stepped forward in an attempt to stop her. Emily didn't get very far.

"Emily, no," Mike wrapped his arms around her. "She'll come in here in a minute. You just…"

Mike was interrupted when the door opened and Serena walked in, looking like she had just finished crying.

Serena leaned against the wall and lowered her head, "I'm sorry, Emy…"

Kevin, Mike, Jayden and Antonio were deeply confused by the apology. Serena wasn't to blame for what happened to Emily, not as far as they were concerned. She wasn't anywhere near her sister when Emily had her accident.

"I changed my mind," Emily whispered. "I do hate you."

"I was going to tell you, Emy. Once I knew myself…"

"Go away."

"You weren't supposed to find out this way. What were you doing answering my phone, anyways? You're my sister but we don't share everything."

"Apparently not."

"Emily…"

"I was going to give you the phone," Emily growled, "but it was about to stop ringing so I got it before the doctor had to leave a message."

"Doctor?" the boys turned to Serena, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Serena promised them.

Emily growled, "I got scared for you. He said he had your results. I thought you were dying again and you didn't tell me!"

"Emily, my results are my results…"

"But you're not going to be heartbroken if you die!" Emily screamed. Mike hugged her tight to comfort her.

Jayden looked to Serena worriedly, "Are you dying?"

"No," Serena shook her head and then put her eyes on Emily, "Emily, please just let me explain…"

"I get it!" Emily shouted. "You screwed Dekker and now you're pregnant. Congratulations, Serena. I hope you're happy."

Emily tried to throw Mike's arms off but he wouldn't let her go. He knew she wanted to get up, but walking was the last thing he wanted her to try. Emily didn't let up.

"Let me go!" she screamed and Mike obeyed in an instant. Emily shakily got off the bed. She was so angry and upset her balance and sense of direction was completely thrown off. She was about to stumble but Mia caught her.

"Emy…"

"You knew," Emily hissed. Mia held onto her until Mike could grab her again. She was so eager to leave he had to help her walk out.

When they were gone all eyes turned to Serena. No one quite knew what to say until Mia broke the silence.

"Well, now you know."

"You're pregnant?" Antonio asked.

Serena's body began to tremble. She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes but there were too many. Mia helped her sit on the bed and held her warmly. She knew Serena wasn't upset about the pregnancy.

"She'll come around."

"What if this doesn't work out?" Serena asked. "It doesn't always work out…"

"We'll make it work."

"Let's just…" Jayden gestured the boys to the door. He looked back at the girls, "If you need us…"

"Thanks," Mia whispered.

Kevin scratched the back of his neck before leaving, "Uh, Serena, if sleeping with your sister isn't an option, I'm more than happy to take the couch tonight. You should be with someone."

"Kevin, I…"

"Thanks, Kev," Mia answered for Serena. "She appreciates it."

"Anything to help," Kevin nodded.

"We'll make sure Emily's okay," Antonio promised. "She'll be well looked after until this all sinks in."


	6. Telling Emily

Learning about Serena's pregnancy was a huge shock to all the Rangers, but Emily most of all. It bothered her that her sister didn't talk to her about it. It bothered her that Mia seemed to know before she did. It bothered her that Serena would sneak around behind her back.

It bothered her even more that Dekker touched her sister. She buried herself deeper into Mike's arms, hiding her face in his chest. He kissed the top of her head and rocked her gently, trying to sooth her. She wasn't sobbing out loud, but she was very upset.

The boys had joined them shortly after they had left the room. They took a seat around the common room and just sat there, without saying anything. There wasn't anything that could be said. They were all surprised.

When Emily was finally relaxed in Mike's arms he looked down to find she had fallen asleep. He wiped the tears away from her face gently and then looked up at the boys.

"Wow," he whispered.

"I should have known…" Kevin whispered, putting his head in his hands. Antonio turned to the blue Ranger and blinked.

"Huh?"

"They told me that's what they did to piss off Dayu," Kevin said. "I should have asked for more details."

"More details?" Antonio frowned. "They were lucky they told you. I would have covered my ears and ran off screaming like a little girl if I found out."

"I can understand why Serena didn't want to say anything," Jayden looked around at the boys and saw they all nodded their heads.

"Some things we don't want to know," Mike agreed. "She must have wanted to be sure before planting disturbing mental images into our heads. I don't care what she did with Dekker if she's not pregnant."

"But she is pregnant."

"Emily shouldn't have answered the call," Kevin frowned. "It wasn't her phone…"

"Dude, it's her sister's phone. Is it really that big of a deal?" Mike asked the blue Ranger. "Knowing Emily, she had every intention of respecting her sister's privacy, but she probably saw it was the hospital and freaked out. If the hospital was randomly calling for Mia, wouldn't you do anything to figure out why?"

"Good point," Kevin nodded his head slowly.

Mike shifted Emily's weight around in his arms and tried to get up, but Serena and Mia's arrival put him right back in his seat and another silence filled the room. Serena pointed to Emily.

"How is she?"

"Really upset," Mike answered honestly and a nod from the boys confirmed it. "I get you didn't want to tell us right away, Serena, but she's your sister."

"My baby sister," Serena nodded. "Don't pretend like it's easy. You have no idea how hard this has been. I was going to tell her, I swear. That was taken from me. She shouldn't have answered…"

"She should have been waiting for answers with you," Mike said. "She's not a little kid. She doesn't need to be protected from things like this. She could have helped you."

"I couldn't put her through that…"

"You can put her through years of watching you die slowly, but you can't tell her you might be pregnant?"

"Mike!" the Ranger team shouted at the green Samurai. He looked around at them. He had said exactly what he wanted to say.

"Well, it's true."

"Take Emily to bed," Jayden ordered the green Ranger. Mike shook his head, wanting to stay but Jayden wouldn't have it. "Michael, you're not ready to talk about this."

"Come back in ten minutes," Mia told the green Ranger and she hoped a little walk and time-out would help him focus on the bigger picture. She knew Emily was hurt, but before they could address that properly they needed to figure out Serena. Mia pointed down the hall and Mike was off to put Emily in her bed. As soon as he was gone, Serena fell onto a stool. She looked across the room at the boys.

"Whatever you guys want to say, you can…"

"Are you okay?" Antonio asked. Serena nodded her head slowly.

"I guess."

"What are you going to do?" Kevin asked her.

Serena placed her hands on her stomach, "It's my kid. I'm keeping it."

"Where are you going to live?" Jayden asked. "Once Mentor gets back I'm sure he'll…"

"She's staying here," Mia insisted. She had already had this little conversation with herself and figured out the best place for Serena to stay would be the Shiba House. If she was pregnant with a Nighlok, no matter how human the child was, Master Xandred would want it, and possibly her. He ruled the Nighlok, and because Serena was a Samurai, there was a huge chance Master Xandred would take advantage of the two worlds crossing over. Nothing would be better than a Nighlok who knew all the secrets of the Samurai.

Master Xandred didn't even need to find out. Even if it was only Dayu who figured out, Serena would be in too much danger to be on her own, or even at her parents' house. Mia knew she wouldn't be happy if some other woman was having Kevin's child. It would only be worse when Dayu realised Serena was pregnant with Dekker's son or daughter.

"Mia," Jayden whispered, "You can't make that call."

"She's a Samurai," Mia nodded her head. "The Shiba House is a home for the Samurai. She has just as much right to be here as any of us do. And it's not like there's no room for her."

"But…"

"If she goes, I go," Mia threatened, shocking Jayden, but the red Ranger soon saw Kevin and Antonio were in agreement with Mia. If Serena was leaving, the entire team was leaving. He sighed, defeated.

"Alright, fine," he muttered. "She'll stay here. We'll talk to Ji when he gets back."

-Samurai-

Mike laid Emily down in her bed just as she started to stir. He sat down next to her while she opened her eyes and looked around the room.

"Hey," he smiled. Emily didn't. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. She cried. Mike placed his hand on her back, "Em, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine."

"She's pregnant!" Emily screamed, pushing herself up and glaring at Mike. "She's carrying his kid, Mike! She didn't even tell me!"

"Did you want to know?" Mike wrinkled his nose, "Honestly, the whole thing freaks me out," he shivered, just to emphasize his point. Emily smacked his shoulder.

"Stop it! Of course I wanted to know…"

"Em…"

"I could have helped her!"

"She was just…"

"I don't care," Emily crossed her arms, fell back with her face landing in her pillow and she screamed. Mike gulped as he took her hand and squeezed it.

"She should have told you," he nodded. "You're her sister; of course you were going to help her."

"I'm tired of being protected," Mike heard Emily's muffled voice say. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

"I'll be right back," he promised her. As he opened the door to leave, Scruffy bolted into the room and jumped up on the bed. He nudged Emily's face with her nose, happy to be inside with her once again. Emily sat up and wrapped her arms around her big puppy. Mike smiled at the dog and held out his fist. Scruffy wagged his tail when he saw Mike doing this and waved his paw. It was a weird air-fist-bump, but it made Emily smiled a little bit. Mike looked over at her, "I'll be back," he promised again before leaving.

He walked down the hallway and back to the common room. It hadn't been ten minutes exactly but he wasn't staying to talk. He cleared his throat, signalling his arrival, and then focused his attention on Serena.

"You're hurting her right now," he said and Serena lowered her gaze to her shoes.

"Mike…"

"She wants to be involved, Serena," Mike frowned. "You should talk to her before talking to everyone else."

"We're just figuring out…"

"I don't care, Kevin," Mike's eyes never left Serena. "She's not the same, fragile little kid who's learning her sister's sick. She's your sister. At the end of the day, no one is going to be able to help you more than her."

"But…"

"She's not your baby sister anymore," Mike shook his head as he pre-empted Serena's statement. "She deserves the truth. No matter how grown-up it may seem."

Mike cleared the doorway, creating a path to his room for Serena. Serena saw this and knew what he was telling her. She excused herself from the room and followed Mike down the hall. When they got to the door, Mike opened it and signalled for Serena to go in.

"Alone?" Serena asked. She knew her sister was angry with her and she had hoped there would be a buffer between them. Mike shrugged.

"You can't talk to her by yourself? I thought she was your sister."

"She is, but…"

"Then no one knows her better…"

"Than you…"

"If I do know her better, then why won't you trust me?" Mike asked and Serena realised he was right. She thanked his softly before stepped into the bedroom and she heard the door closing behind her. She gulped when she saw her sister sitting on the bed with Scruffy on her lap. Emily turned her head away.

"I don't want to talk to you…"

"Emy…"

"Go away!" Emily screamed. Serena shook her head.

"I was going to tell you first," she insisted. "Once I knew the results, you would have…"

"You told Mia!"

"I didn't tell her anything," Serena stepped closer to the bed. "She just offered to listen and I told her about Dekker…"

"You could have told me…"

"I didn't plan it."

Emily shot her sister's stomach a look, "Obviously."

"Emy, everything that happened just happened, okay?"

"No, it's not okay!"

"Emy…"

"No!"

"I never meant to hurt you."

"Funny," Emily scoffed. "I'm sure Dekker said the same thing."

"I…" tears filled Serena's eyes. Her sister was right. She stepped back, leaned against the wall and sunk down to the floor. To Emily, it almost looked like she had just shot her sister. She glared angrily before her look softened. The longer she stared, the more she realised her sister was in pain. She pushed the dog off her lap and bolted over.

"Serena, I…"

Serena threw her arms around her sister, "I'm sorry. Mia and I figured it out together. She knew more about it than I did. I-I… I didn't want to tell you…. I was scared of…"

Emily looked her older sister in the eyes as she spoke. Rarely had she seen Serena crying. There were only few exceptions. The times Serena did cry, either Dekker or Emily was involved. The yellow Ranger nestled into her sister's arms. Serena hugged her tight.

"Dekker showed up," Serena whispered. "Just a few hours ago, he was here."

"Did you tell him?"

Serena shook her head, "I didn't know for sure until you told me," she said, "but even if I did… we're over."

"B… but…"

"I'll be fine."

"I don't like this," Emily whispered. "I want to help but…"

"Not right away," Serena nodded. "I get it. Take your time."


	7. The Dinner Table

Mentor had been at the Tengen Gate for a few days now and he was starting to wonder what there was beyond the main room. Serena had told him not to snoop around and he would respect her wishes, but he knew there were many books he could read without getting too much information. There were some things even he wasn't allowed to know.

He had just finished reading a book about a former Samurai team and their battles against the Nighlok. It was centuries ago, but things were almost the same as they were now. A full team of Samurai, living, working and playing together under one roof for years. He had learned a lot about the dynamics of the team and he could see many resemblances between the current Rangers and their ancestors, but the thing that interested him the most was the stories about their mentor.

Ji knew that mentors made mistakes, but this former mentor had made a life-ending judgement call. Mentor Ji found he could relate. Fortunately, the Rangers whose Stones had been programmed had all survived, but there was a risk that the Stones were powerful enough to kill. Things could have been worse than they were now.

But the former mentor hadn't been so lucky. He had to make a quick call for his team, one none of the Rangers approved of, but as mentor he convinced them to trust him. Five Rangers had gone into battle, intend on going through with his plan. Only four returned. The blue Ranger, Kevin's ancestor, had died when the plan backfired against the Samurai. The Nighlok had been about to destroy the Rangers but he pushed them all out of the way and took the attack by himself. He died on the spot. The only reason Kevin was alive today and the blue Ranger powers could be passed down was because, unbeknownst to the blue Ranger at the time, the woman he loved was carrying his child.

Mentor Ji felt bad for the mentor in the stories, but reading had made him realise just how careful he needed to be with the decisions he made. Jayden had initially protested, but Mentor had assured him everything would be fine. Had Mentor only listened to his red Ranger, the team never would have suffered.

Mentor set the book down as Osamu walked into the room. He was holding something behind his back. He cleared his throat, at which Mentor Ji looked up.

"The guardians are putting the finishing touches to Serena's room," he said. "We found some of her possessions in the debris," Osamu pulled out Monkey the Ape and a photo album. He held them out for Mentor Ji to take.

Mentor furrowed his brow in confusion at the items. As far as he was concerned they belonged to Emily. He took them and smiled.

"This must have been missed."

"Will Serena be coming back?" Osamu asked. "The other guardians heard you saying we don't need her anymore. They're starting to worry you won't send her back."

"You don't need her," Mentor replied confidently. He tucked the ape and the book under his arm and placed his hand on Osamu's shoulder. "You would do anything to protect the secrets of the Samurai, would you not?"

"Of course."

"What makes Serena better?"

"She's more skilled. She's been chosen…"

"I will tell her what I have seen here and I will give her the option to return home or not. If she trusts you can all defend the Gate by yourselves, will you trust yourselves?"

"Serena would never put the Gate in any kind of danger."

"I'll take that as a yes," Mentor chuckled.

-Samurai-

The atmosphere was a little weird around the Samurai house now that everyone knew Serena was pregnant. She and Emily had made up and Emily was doing the best she could to help her sister, but they both still avoided the topic of pregnancy whenever they could. Emily wanted to help her sister, but she didn't like the idea of Serena being pregnant. Mia was always with the two girls, lending a hand whenever possible and she was usually the one who talked pregnancy with Serena and tried to involve Emily as much as possible.

Kevin was doing his best to keep a regular routine in the house, but he couldn't help but delay training or extended relaxation periods when he thought Serena was working out too hard. He didn't know how much exercise was too much and he didn't want to push it.

Jayden, Antonio and Mike were all fascinated and slightly unnerved by the pregnancy. Like the other Rangers, they had never been around a pregnant woman before. They didn't know how to behave, what to expect, or when to avoid hormonal Serena.

Mike was staring at Serena's stomach while the team sat around the common room eating their dinner.

"So, when does it blow up?" he asked and was then hit in the stomach by Jayden.

"It doesn't blow up," he whispered to Mike. "It's slow and steady."

"Are you going to get fat?" Antonio asked Serena. "I hear that when a baby's born it's only, like, seven or eight pounds. The rest is all you."

"Do you think it's going to hurt?" Mike continued his question and this time put his arm in front of his stomach to avoid another slap from Jayden. "I mean, you and Emily aren't big, but your father…"

Emily dug her nails into Mike's arms.

"From what I've seen in pictures," Mike quickly added, "is huge! And Dekker's not exactly a tiny guy. If the kid's anything like either of them…"

Serena glared at the two boys and then pointed her fork at them, "If you guys do this for the entire pregnancy I'll have you both filming the birth. Start to finish. Every gruesome detail."

Mike and Antonio didn't say another word.

"Maybe we can have a meal where Serena's pregnancy isn't the only conversation we have," Kevin suggested. "So, what did we all do today?"

"You have to ask?" Jayden laughed. "We spent the day together."

"We spend every day together," Emily nodded. "There's nothing to talk about unless you want to relive what happened only a few hours ago."

"Mia tripping up the steps," Serena chuckled as the memory came back to mind. "That's never going to get old."

"Emily slips all over the place," Mia muttered. "I nearly trip once and it goes down in history."

"You're right," Serena placed her hand on Mia's shoulder and for a moment she gave the pink Ranger a sympathetic look. Then she turned to the rest of the team, "It would have been even better if you actually fell on your face."

Mia glared at her friends. She knew they were only teasing but she had to get the last word. She snuck a glance at the mess in the kitchen.

"Fine, if I'm such a klutz today that would mean it would be a bad idea for me to do dishes."

"But… it's your week," Jayden frowned.

"Yeah, but there are glass cups and breakable plates and don't even get me started on the knives. Someone could get hurt. I would do the dishes, but I wouldn't want any of you accidentally getting stabbed in the chest when I take another little spill."

"I hate you," Mike muttered and he started collecting plates with Antonio now that the Rangers were all done eating. There was a bit of a silence as the conversation fell flat. Finally, Serena got up.

"I have to pee."

"Again?" Kevin frowned. "You just went an hour ago."

"Junior's already starting to run my life," Serena shrugged. "And he's barely the size of my hand. Hopefully he won't do like what Emily did to mom."

"What did I do?"

"Every symptom in the book," Serena groaned, thinking back to what she could remember of when her mother had been pregnant with Emily. "Mom suffered for months because of you."

"My bad…"

"She still kicked my ass when we were training, though," Serena muttered. "And you were a kicker too. My first memory of you was you kicking me in the face from the uterus when I gave mom a hug. Mom and dad were laughing for hours."

"Sorry," Emily giggled.

"It didn't hurt, but I got you back."

"How?"

"Like this," Serena reached forward and flicked her sister in the forehead before rushing off to the bathroom before she wet herself.

Mia handed her plate off to Antonio as he came back to collect the second round of dirty dishes. Once her plate was gone she turned to Emily.

"I'm glad you came around on the whole Serena-pregnancy thing," she smiled. "She was really worried about how you would take it."

"It's a little awkward still," Emily admitted. "Last night I had a nightmare the baby would look like Nighlok Dekker when it came out…"

"Okay, forget my painful big baby theory," Mike interrupted from the kitchen, "_That's_ going tofucking _hurt_!"

"Yeah," Emily nodded her head slowly. "Serena told me I can take my times coming to terms with it. She won't force me to go with her to appointments and stuff."

"That's what I'm here for," Mia smiled. "You'll come around soon though, Emy. And you're doing your best to help."

"Serena was up all night throwing up," Mike nodded, walking back into the room after leaving Antonio to dry the dishes. "Emily was up with her."

"I just told myself she had food poisoning."

"What about when the bump comes?" Jayden asked Emily. "The flu's a believable excuse. What will you tell yourself when it looks like she swallowed a basketball?"

"She had too much ice-cream," Emily shrugged her shoulders. "Hopefully I get used to the idea of her being pregnant with Dekker's baby by then. I don't like not liking it. I've always wanted to be an aunt."

"Maybe when the baby kicks you in the face and you feel it for the first time, you'll fall in love," Kevin suggested with a smile. "I've never felt a baby kicking before, but I hear it's amazing."

"Maybe," Emily nodded and turned around when she heard Serena walking back into the room. Her sister had detoured the kitchen and was eating from a tub of ice-cream. Jayden couldn't help but laugh.

"You're a walking cliché," he said to Serena. She glared at him.

"One more word and my next craving will be you."

"Definitely Dekker's kid in there," Mike chuckled. He looked over to Emily, "How do you explain Serena's weird cravings?"

"Never mess with Serena and ice-cream," Emily laughed. Mike turned back to Serena and saw the older sister giving him a dead-serious look. He took a step away.

"That's all yours," he gestured to the tub. Serena smiled and licked her spoon clean.

"You guys learn fast."


	8. The Baby

Mentor had a lot to think about before he went home. After reading the story about one of his predecessors, he knew he could go home to the Rangers a better mentor, but before leaving he wanted to figure out where Serena belonged. He wanted to know if Daisuke really expected her to spend her entire life at the Tengen Gate, or if maybe he saw something inside of her that he didn't see in himself.

He picked up Daisuke's old journal and opened it to the last few pages before he began reading. There wasn't much in there that he didn't already know from Serena. Daisuke had showed her secrets that no guardian had ever seen and then there was mention of him leaving. It was simply a few pages on what had happened, but no real answer as to why it had all happened.

"You always were a mysterious man," Mentor sighed. "You couldn't have made this easy for me?"

Mentor closed the book and was about to set it back on the table when he saw a scroll he hadn't seen before. He looked around the room. He was certain it hadn't been there moments ago. Setting the book down, he reached for it slowly and unravelled it.

_Ji,_

_You have learned much in your stay at the Tengen Gate. As have I. The guardians have grown in magnificent warriors and I have no doubt they'll be able to take on Serena's responsibilities._

_When you return home, thank her for her service. It was very much appreciated. The Tengen Gate is safer now than it ever was before. Osamu will make an excellent leader and my hope is one day he will take on the challenge of Elder Guardian._

Mentor read to the bottom of the scroll but there was no name. He had no idea where this scroll had come from, or who had written it. He flipped the paper around, thinking maybe he had missed something but there was nothing.

He shook his head and chuckled. He tucked the scroll into his kimono and started packing his bags.

-Samurai-

"What to expect when you're expecting?" Emily shivered as she read the title of the book that had been left on the table. The doctor had given it to Serena when she went to her first prenatal appointment and Serena was expected to read it.

Emily hadn't gone with her sister, but apparently the doctor has also said it was a good idea for someone else to read the book as well. Many expecting couples learned everything they could about what to expect, and sometimes mothers and fathers would read together.

Serena wasn't forcing Emily to be her second half, but she wasn't being completely subtle with it either. She had asked Mia and Kevin to help her out, but she had given Emily a look when they had all been sitting around. Emily couldn't do it. She was still trying to live in denial. She didn't like the idea; not one bit. It disgusted her to think of what Dekker had done.

"It's kind of interesting," Antonio startled Emily as he walked into the room. He had seen her staring at the book and he knew what she was thinking. Emily turned around.

"I thought only Mia and Kevin had to read it?"

"That's what Serena asked," Antonio smirked. He took a seat on his cushion and grabbed the book in his hands, "but afterwards we kind of decided we would all read it."

"No thank you," Emily shook her head. "Why would you want to?"

"It's only going to get harder for her from here on out," Antonio shrugged his shoulders. "She'll need a team of people with her who at least know what's going on."

Antonio opened up the book and flipped through the pages. When he found what he wanted he reached over and pulled a stool next to his. He tapped it, inviting Emily to take a seat. She refused but he insisted. Reluctantly she sat down next to him and sighed.

"What?"

"Serena's in her eighth week now," he said and he pointed to a picture of what the baby looked like. "There it is… well, not your baby, but that's what it looks like."

"It's not my baby," Emily whispered as she leaned in to look at the picture, "It's just a blob."

"It kind of looks like a blob-y human," Antonio chuckled before reading. "And it's a little over an inch long and it's really starting to get a face now, Em."

"I don't care, I…" Emily trailed off as Antonio flipped over to the next page and an ultrasound scan fell out and onto the floor. He quickly reached over to pick it up before it was lost or damaged.

"Serena keeps it in here," he placed it between the two pages. "She knows you don't want to see it."

Emily shook her head and Antonio closed the book. He set it down and gave Emily a pat on the leg.

"Seriously, kiddo, the books gives you some freaky mental images, and some freakier pictures, but it's kind of cool to know what happening. By next week, your little baby's going to be able to make a fist and suck its thumb."

"How do you know?"

"I read ahead," Antonio smirked. He got up, leaving Emily alone once again.

The yellow Ranger glared at the book now that she was alone. It was weird knowing what was happening to the baby inside her sister's stomach and the pictures in the book made it look like an ugly blob of a human. But, as she bit her lip nervously, she couldn't help but think about the ultrasound scan that had fallen out.

She flipped open the book but stopped on the page before the ultrasound. She had to wonder if she really wanted to see this or if curiosity was just getting the better of her. She did flip the page though and took the scan in her hands, but her eyes stayed on the picture of the embryo in the book. It still looked like a blob to her, but she could see the human features to it.

"Kind of looks like an alien baby, huh?" this time it was Mia who caused Emily to jump as the pink Ranger walked into the room and put a history book on the shelf. "The ultrasound picture isn't as clear as the books, but it's still kind of cool."

Emily looked down at the scan and frowned, "There's nothing there."

Mia chuckled and took a seat next to Emily. She wrapped one arm around the yellow Ranger and then pointed to the baby on the ultrasound.

"It's that thing," she said, her eyes straying over to the doorway where Serena was standing with a smile. Mia smiled back and then looked at Emily, "The best part was the heartbeat. Kevin almost started crying when he heard it."

"A heartbeat?" Emily frowned, "that means…"

"Yep," Mia nodded. "It's got a heart."

Emily looked down at the ultrasound picture. She couldn't see much but she knew it was there.

"Do you want to see it?" Mia offered and Emily looked up with a frown.

"How? I wasn't at the appointment."

"We recorded it," Mia said. "Eventually you'll come around, we hope, and we don't want you to miss this."

"But…"

"Relax, Emy, if you don't want to that's fine," Mia smiled. "It's just a thought."

There was a moment of hesitation. Mia wasn't sure if Emily would agree to see the recording of the ultrasound or not. But finally Emily nodded her head. Mia smiled, took the yellow Ranger's hand and walked her across the room where Mike had _conveniently_ left his laptop on and the recording for the ultrasound was already up. Mia sat Emily down and started the video. She pointed out where the baby was in the picture and then pointed out the constant, repeated thumping sound that had also been recorded.

"That's the heartbeat," she wrapped her arms around Emily's shoulders and hugged her gently. "It's your baby's heartbeat."

"It's kind of cool," Emily whispered. Mia smiled, pulled up a chair and sat next to the yellow Ranger.

"It'll look like less of a blob in a few weeks," she promised. "Before you know it, Serena's going to start showing."

"Cool," Emily muttered as she began to close the laptop. She turned to Mia, "Are you busy?"

"Uh, we have training in an hour."

"The mentor's my sister, I think we can skip one," Emily smirked. She took Mia's hand, "I want to go somewhere."

"Where? Emy, Serena will eat you alive for skipping _because _you're her sister."

"No, she won't, trust me," Emily tugged on Mia's hand, "Please. I can't go alone. It's against the rules."

Mia looked over at the doorway again and saw Serena nodding her head. She then looked back at Emily and smiled.

"Fine. Let's go."


	9. Emily Buys A Blanket

Emily had taken Mia into a baby store. Mia had to wonder why. Emily had seemed excited after hearing her niece's or nephew's heartbeat, but Mia wasn't sure if her excitement was related to the baby or not.

Emily never said why they were in the store. She walked past all the furniture, the toys, the necessities for babies and right up to a wall of baby blankets.

"Emy, what are you doing?" Mia asked as Emily's eyes scanned the walls thoughtfully.

"I had a blanket when I was a baby," Emily answered. "My Serena had one, my mom had one…"

Mia's heart warmed as she heard this, "Emy…"

"Yeah, I know," Emily blushed slight and kept her eyes on the blankets, "You got me with the heartbeat. I still don't like the whole idea, but there's a real baby growing inside my sister. Under different circumstances I would be buying the entire store, but there's nothing I can do about the way things worked out. I kind of want to show Serena I'm getting used to it."

"Baby steps," Mia nodded her head and then looked at the wall of blankets, "So, what are we looking for? Something gender neutral or are we going to take a leap of faith and assume the next yellow Ranger will be a girl, again?"

"In other words, you want pink," Emily giggled.

"Boy or girl, it's getting something pink from me," Mia smiled. "But the baby blanket's your choice. I like the Winnie the Pooh one… your choice. Oh, or look, this one is a yellow blanket with a pink teddy bear on it!"

Emily turned to her Ranger sister, "I get the feeling no one's going to have to buy clothes for the baby."

"Can we look at clothes next?" Mia asked. Emily shook her head.

"No, just blankets. Maybe in a couple of months."

Mia smiled and reached for the Winnie the Pooh blanket. She unfolded it and held it out for Emily to see.

"Do you like it?"

Emily examined the blanket closely before shaking her head and then pointed to a blanket that was just out of her reach on the top shelf. Mia looked up and saw she was barely tall enough to reach it. She folded the blanket back up and then stretched to grab Emily's choice. She unfolded it and showed it to the yellow Samurai. Emily smiled, nodded her head and took the blanket in her own hands.

"Really?" Mia turned back to the Pooh Bear blanket, "But, mine was cute Pooh."

"This one," Emily nodded her head and brought the blanket to the cash register to pay.

"But… bees sting."

"You said it was my choice," Emily giggled as the cashier handed her the bag with the blanket inside. "Trust me."

"Okay…"

-Samurai-

Mike did his final push-up before falling face down into the dirt with a loud groan. His right arm shot up in the air and through the dirt he grumbled, "I call favouritism."

"Big baby," Serena chuckled. "Five more for sulking."

"You better make Emily and Mia do push-ups," Mike frowned as he tried to keep going. "They didn't even show up."

"You were late."

"At least I turned up!"

"Ten more," Serena demanded when Mike finished the extra five.

"But…"

"One more word out of you and you'll be doing this until the cows come home," Serena threatened with a smirk. Mike glared up at her.

"You're so lucky you're pregnant right now…"

On the grass, Kevin turned to Antonio and Jayden with a laugh, "Mike's never going to be late to practice again while Serena's in charge."

"There's definitely a no bullshit act in place when she's mentor," Antonio nodded. "She's serious about this."

"I think she just likes teasing Mike," Jayden commented, "I mean, he is dating her sister. He should have seen this coming."

Mike finished his last push-up and rolled onto his back. He was breathing deeply as he looked into the eyes of the woman who had tortured him for the last half-hour.

"You're a…"

"Ah," Serena held up her hand and Mike knew if he finished his sentence the way he intended he wouldn't ever see anything else but the ground moving closer and then further away from his face.

"You're such an inspiration to all of us Samurai. You're so focused and on the ball with your training that…"

"Now you're just kissing ass," Serena smirked.

Her teasing of the green Ranger came to an end when Mia and Emily finally walked into the training yard. They had come from outside the gate and were dressed in their regular clothing. They were far from ready for training.

Mike sat up, "Make them do drills! They're late! They're late!"

Serena rolled her eyes. She knew the girls would be late to training. She had given Mia non-verbal permission to leave the house right before scheduled training time.

She pointed to the bag in Emily's hand, "What did you get?"

Emily hadn't planned on doing this in front of everyone. She figured by the time she and Mia got home the boys would all be in the shower or getting changed out of their sweaty uniforms and this could be a moment between her and her sister. But she was going to do it regardless. It was important.

"I saw the ultrasound," Emily told her sister. "Mia showed me the recording."

"I didn't think you'd be ready to see that," Serena said. She had seen it all, unbeknownst to Emily, but was trying to let her sister catch up at her own pace.

"I didn't really see much," Emily admitted. "It kind of just looks like a blob."

"That's what I told mom when I first saw you," Serena chuckled. "I called you Blubber for a couple of months. Baby Blubber."

Emily looked down at the bag in her hands, "I… I also heard the heartbeat. The baby's really alive and… it doesn't matter how it came to be or who it belongs to. It's going to be here soon."

"Emy, you don't have to get involved until you're ready. This is a very, very big commitment and it's really scary. I would never…"

Emily pulled out the baby blanket and presented it to her sister.

"I want to help. I want to be involved completely. All the appointments, all the preparations. I know you're in this without Dekker and… you need a partner."

Serena gently took the blanket from her sister as she began to tear up. She looked at the blanket for a moment then down at her little sister. She pulled Emily into her arms.

"You don't know how much I wanted to hear that."

While the sisters shared a hug, the Rangers heard a sniff coming from their group. Mia, Jayden, Antonio and Mike all turned to Kevin. He too had tears in his eyes.

"Dude, seriously?" Antonio laughed at the blue Ranger.

"It's just so… the baby tears them apart but brings them back together, closer than ever!"

"And yet you won't watch romantic comedies without whining," Mia sat down in the grass next to her fiancé and rolled her eyes. Kevin wrapped his arm around her and placed his head on her shoulder.

"I want one."

"Whoa!" Mia turned to Kevin with a shock stare, "No. Dream wedding does not include by son or daughter as flower girl or ring bearer! It's ring, then defeat Master Xandred, then dream wedding and then kids. That order. No exceptions."

Kevin pouted and crossed his arms. He pulled away from Mia.

"Fine," he looked across the yard at Serena and Emily as Serena wrapped the yellow Ranger in the bee-patterned blanket and then tickled her sides, causing her sister to laugh for the first time since she learned Serena was pregnant.


	10. A Surprise For Mentor Ji

Mentor Ji returned from the Tengen Gate exhausted. It had been a long flight and he had been stuck behind a little girl who wanted to play peek-a-boo the entire trip. At first it had been fun making the girl giggle, but after twenty minutes Mentor had had enough.

He hadn't announced to the Rangers he was coming home. He figured he would announce it to them in person in the morning. Now it was very late and all he wanted to do was head to bed.

He dragged his suit case on the floor behind him and then set it in the common room. He didn't want to scare the Rangers by turning up out of nowhere and figured the suitcase would be enough of a clue that he was home and trying to sleep in after his long flight in the middle of the night.

Just as he was about to leave the common room, he spotted a book in the corner of his eye and wondered why it was off the shelf. His great respect for Samurai history overpowered his tiredness and he grabbed the book to put it away properly. But as he reached for it, he caught the title of the book.

"What to expect when you're expecting?" he furrowed his brow. This didn't belong in his house. No Ranger would be stupid enough to get pregnant. He opened the book and flipped through the pages, hoping this was a gag gift of some sorts between the Rangers. It was then he came across the scan for the ultrasound and he knew this was no joke. He could barely make out the image because it was dark, but his sharp eyes could make out Emily's last name in the corner.

He balled his hands into a fist, crushing the ultrasound in his hands, but then he remembered what he had learned at the Tengen Gate. He was a mentor, but sometimes his team knew better than he did. Before he got angry he was going to confront Mike and Emily about this.

He tip-toed over to their room silently and pressed his ear against the door when he heard murmuring. It was late. They should have been asleep.

Inside the bedroom, Mike and Emily were sitting on Emily's bed with a pregnancy book in their hands. Now that Emily had decided to take a serious role in Serena's pregnancy she wanted to know all she could. Mike had been telling her about the book he had been reading on the partner's role in helping the mother during pregnancy and thought it would be a good start for Emily. They had just reached the chapter that explained what happened to the mother during each stage. Mike had read this chapter on his own, so he was helping Emily understand it.

Emily wrinkled her nose in disgust as Mike reached the ninth month and started reading about the actual birth of the baby and what the mother would be doing and how her partner helped.

"There's no way I'm doing that!"

"You don't have a choice," Mike chuckled.

"What if I don't know what to do?" Emily asked with a frown as she turned to Mike. He wrapped his arm around her and hugged her tight.

"You'll figure it out," he kissed her cheek; "it'll come naturally once it happens. Besides, there are classes you can take that cover everything you'll need to know."

Emily breathed out loudly and leaned her head on Mike's chest, "Babies are hard."

Right outside the room, Mentor Ji had heard enough. He opened the door, startling the two Rangers. He saw them in bed together and quickly pointed to the green Ranger's bed.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping in your own bed, Michael?" he growled. Mike could sense there was a problem and didn't want to anger Ji further. He dropped the book and raced to his own bed.

Mentor stormed over to Emily's bed and ripped the book from her hands as she tried to stuff it under the blankets. He read the cover and glared at Emily.

"I am very, very disappointed in…"

"Dude!"

"… Both of you!" Mentor shouted, turning to look at Mike, as well as Emily. "You have a responsibility to your families as well as the entire planet!"

The other Rangers and Serena rushed in after hearing the screaming and they were surprised to see Mentor Ji was home. They were more surprised he was home angry.

Jayden flipped on the main light in the bedroom so everyone could see each other and all the Rangers noticed the book in Mentor's hands. Serena's hand strayed to her stomach as she gulped. So far she had had it easy with her pregnancy. None of the Rangers had judged her.

"Mentor…" she called, alerting Mentor of her presence. He turned to her and held up the book.

"I assume you do not know about this," he said, thinking this was true because he had found Mike and Emily sharing a bed. If he knew Serena, even a little bit, Mike would be nowhere near her sister if she found out Emily was pregnant.

Serena lowered her head, "I do, Mentor."

"You do?" Mentor was stunned. "And you continue to allow them to share a room?"

"Mentor," Emily called weakly.

"Dude," Mike called, his voice a little stronger, "You've got it all wrong!"

"Do I?" Mentor asked the young couple. "When I find pregnancy books laying around the house and a teenage couple sleeping in bed together, what other explanation could there be?"

While Mentor glared at Mike and Emily, Jayden, Kevin, Mia and Antonio turned to Serena.

"It's for me," Serena whispered just loud enough for Mentor to hear what she was saying. He dropped the book and turned around.

"What was that?"

"The book's for me," Serena said. "Each of the Rangers have a pregnancy book to read so they know what to expect. Emily's not pregnant."

"She…" Mentor looked down at the yellow Ranger then at the book in his hand. If he had learned anything about Serena in his time at the Tengen Gate it was that she had a different style of leadership than he did. He calmed his breath, apologized to Mike and Emily and then smiled at Serena. "I don't know why I never thought of that. Giving them a warning of what might happen if…"

"No, Mentor," Serena shook her head, "You misunderstood. It's not for educational purposes…"

"Antonio and I have a book as well," Jayden said.

Now Mentor was deeply confused, "I'm sorry?"

Serena didn't say anything. She just kept her hand on her stomach. Mentor Ji noticed and the pieces slowly began to fall into place. Mike and Emily reading a pregnancy book, the book in his hand on what to expect for expecting mother, the ultrasound with Emily's last name in the corner…

"You?"

Serena nodded her head slowly, "Eight weeks."

"How?" Mentor frowned. "It's not… is it?"

"It's Dekker's," Serena answered. "I'm positive about that."

"I…" Mentor Ji didn't know what to do anymore. He looked around the room, "Everyone, back to bed."

Mike moved to go back to Emily's bed, hoping to maybe finish off the chapter like they had both wanted, but Mentor held up a hand.

"Don't even…"

"Dude, Emily and I are the only people who have been in a relationship who don't have to worry about mistakes like that," Mike growled. "We'll do what we want."

"Michael…"

"It's fine, Mentor," Serena whispered. "I trust them."

"You aren't exactly the best person to trust."

"We'll talk about this in the morning, okay?" Kevin suggested as he and Mia began to leave the room, hoping the others and Mentor would follow.

Mentor huffed and stormed out of the room. This was not what he wanted to come home to.

-Samurai-

The following morning the room was tense. Mentor Ji couldn't sleep after learning about Serena's pregnancy. Even though she wasn't a Ranger, she was still so involved with the Samurai that he expected her to follow the same rules. Being pregnant with Master Xandred still around posed a huge threat not only to Serena but also to the Rangers, and it was only made worse by the fact that the child belonged to Dekker.

Mentor Ji hadn't disapproved of the relationship between the Serena and Dekker, not after he had seen how much they loved each other, but there was no way this was going to happen. Not under his roof.

He swallowed his bite of toast and looked to Serena, "I assume Dekker will be joining us…"

"No," Serena shook her head. "Dekker and I are done." Serena could see the anger in Mentor's eyes as she said this, so she added: "If you knew what he did to me before I found out I was pregnant, you would approve of the break-up."

"He is the father of your child. He will…"

"Not go anywhere near me, my baby or the Rangers," Serena growled.

"Where will you go?" Mentor asked. "How will you support your child? You have no job, no money, nothing!"

"She has us," Mia spoke up. "She's going to stay with us."

"No she's not," Mentor shook his head. "I'm sorry, Serena, but this is too dangerous. You do not have a home here."

"You can't do that!" Mike roared, jumping up from his seat. "We all agreed to let Serena stay here. She needs all of us…"

"You will return home," Mentor told Serena. "It is safest for you and the Rangers if you are out of sight and out of their way."

"No!" Mike shouted and shook his head. "You can't do that."

"Michael…"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Mike asked with a growl. "First you insist on torturing us with our Stones, then you disappear, then you come back only to leave again. When you finally do come home you assume the pregnancy books are lying all around here because Emily and I are so irresponsible that we get pregnant and now you're kicking Serena out of her home."

"This is no place for a child," Mentor Ji shook his head.

"I was raised here," Jayden pointed out. "If it was good enough for me, it's good enough for Serena and her baby."

"If Master Xandred finds out…"

"He won't," Kevin promised, "and if he does, we'll all fight harder. It's Serena's baby, but we're all in this together."

Mentor looked around the table at his team. They were making a foolish decision. Master Xandred was going to find out and the Rangers, as well as Serena and the baby would be put in so much danger. Much more than they were now. If this baby was part-Nighlok, it would be the first Nighlok to ever possess the strength to create symbol power. It was the perfect hybrid that Master Xandred would surely take advantage of.

But Mentor then remembered the story of the former mentor who failed to listen to his team when they insisted he was wrong. He glanced one more time at the table.

"Why would Serena be safer here?" he asked.

"There's more of us to protect her," Jayden said. "We're not going to let anything happen to her."

"Her mother…"

"Mom's a skilled Samurai, but she's not the yellow Ranger," Emily pulled out her Samuraizer, "I am. Master Xandred would do anything to get his hands on the baby. He'll kill both my parents in seconds."

"You understand the danger you are putting yourselves in?" Mentor asked the table and everyone nodded. He turned to Serena, "You understand the danger you're putting your team in."

"I do what the Rangers want," Serena said. "If they didn't want me here, I would be gone."

"Then it's a good thing the Tengen Gate is safe in the hands of Osamu," Ji smiled. "You are relinquished from your duties as Guardian."

"I… I am?"

"Your sole responsibility was to ensure the safety of the Gate. By training the other guardians and bringing them up to your level, you have guaranteed the Gate would be well protected. You are no longer needed."

"So, Serena can stay?" Emily asked hopefully. Mentor nodded his head.

"Good," Mike crossed his arms, "because I sure as hell liked her as a Mentor better than you. I have to actually do something wrong before she yells at me."

Mentor lowered his head, "My assumptions were quick," he said, "I saw Emily's name on the ultrasound and I jumped to conclusions. It never occurred to me that Serena would be pregnant. I apologize, Mike and Emily."

"Sure, whatever," Mike scoffed. Emily didn't care about Mentor's apology. She smiled brightly at her sister, happy Serena would be staying for a long time.

Her bubble was burst quickly by Mentor's next question: "Have you told your parents, Serena?"

Both Emily's and Serena's eyes widened in panic. Serena looked like she was going to pass out and Emily seemed terrified for her sister.


	11. The Parents Hear The News

The house was silent. Dead silent.

After Mentor Ji insisted the day before that Serena tell her parents she was pregnant, he invited them over to the Shiba House. Serena, for obvious reasons, was nervous. She hadn't gotten any sleep, worried about what her parents would say when they found out she was pregnant.

She remembered the talk when she hit puberty and when she started dating. Her parents, especially her father, believed in abstinence until marriage and they had pushed their beliefs onto Serena and Emily. For the most part, Serena believed her parents were only saying that to keep her and Emily from making mistakes, ensuring their baby girls would push off that big step until they were really and truly ready to take it.

But now that she was pregnant, Serena was terrified of how they would react and how this belief would influence the reaction. Not only had she not listened to her parents, but she also hadn't used protection and now she was pregnant, single, and carrying what she hoped wasn't a quarter-Nighlok child.

Jayden, Antonio, Mia and Kevin were nervous for Serena and could sense the terror she was feeling. They didn't know her parents and they couldn't comfort Serena by telling her they would understand. They had no idea what was going to happen and were dreading this meeting almost as much as her.

Mike was close to being a wreck. He had met Emily's parents before (though only he and Emily knew this) and he had earned their respect as well as their blessing for dating their daughter, but now that Serena was knocked up, he could kiss the blessings farewell. Jack had shown Mike he loved Emily very much. She was his little girl; the one he needed to protect, especially from guys like Mike. Serena was older, and now that she wasn't sick, she was stronger. Emily, while mature and responsible, was and always would be the baby of the family. If Jack thought, for a moment, Serena's mistake could happen to Emily, Mike would be the next meal the Earth Samurai family ate.

Emily was sitting with her hand in Mike's and her foot tapping anxiously on the floor. Her parents were due to arrive any minute. She kept glancing over at her sister nervously and the two girls would exchange looks of horror. This was going to be anything but easy.

The doorbell rang and the Rangers all jumped inches off their seats. Mentor walked to answer the door and was almost knocked off his feet by a frantic mother.

"Is she okay?" Serena and Emily's mother asked as she pushed her way into the house. After being a yellow Samurai for close to a year, she knew the rules very well. No contact was permitted with family or friends while serving as Samurai. It had almost killed her leaving her family behind, especially with a daughter too young to understand that mommy would come back one day, but it was for their safety. The only exception to that rule was if a Ranger was dead.

Emily knew this was the exception too and stood up, calling her mother. The former yellow Ranger turned to her daughter and breathed out a heavy sigh of relief as she caught Emily in her arms and held her tight. The drive from the farmhouse to the Shiba house was a good three hour drive and she had spent that entire time worrying her daughter was dead.

Jack was next to walk in and the Rangers could feel the floor shaking as he walked, though that was likely their imagination. They all exchanged looks as the big, tall man searched the room for his daughter.

Kevin grabbed Mike's shoulder and squeezed it tightly, "You make one move, and he'll squeeze your brain out through your ears."

"With one hand," Antonio added.

Mike already knew Emily's father was a big man. He had spent most of his life working on a farm, and with no sons to help him he had to do most of the heavy lifting and hard physical labour himself. However, seeing Jack again struck fear into Mike's heart, and the nature of his visit did nothing to calm his fear. Sure, Emily wasn't pregnant, but she did have a boyfriend, and Jack certainly knew what boys were like.

When Jack saw his daughter was safe and sound he wrapped her in his arms, holding her close to ease his worries. Like his wife, he knew there was only one reason why parents were summoned to the Shiba House. It had taken all the strength he had to hold back his tears on the drive over.

Mia grabbed Kevin's arm, "He's going to break her," she whispered, worried for Emily's safety as her father hugged her. Jack was extremely gentle with his daughter, but Mia and the boys couldn't see this and they were terrified Emily was going to snap right in half.

While Jack hugged their daughter, Emily's mother turned to Mentor Ji.

"If Emily's fine then…" her voice trailed off slowly when she saw Serena standing up. She was surprised by what she was seeing. She hadn't seen her eldest daughter since Serena mysterious ran off the day of Emily's birthday months ago. Thanks to the occasional phone call, she knew her daughter had recovered from her illness and was now serving the Tengen Gate. She never expected to see her home so soon. "Serena…"

Hearing his eldest daughter's name, Jack let go of Emily and turned to his wife. He then followed her gaze and his eyes fell upon Serena: strong, beautiful and healthy as ever.

"I'm home," Serena smiled and rushed into her parents arms, forgetting about the baby for a moment.

Kevin felt Mia squeezing his arms tighter and saw his fiancée had a look of horror on her face as she watched Jack hug Serena.

"He's going to pop that baby right out," she whispered to him. Kevin nodded his head.

"If he does, we won't have a problem anymore."

Mentor Ji asked Jayden and Antonio to pull in a couple of chairs from the kitchen so Emily and Serena's parents could have a seat. Once everyone was seated, Mentor thought it was time for introductions. He pointed around the room to each of the Rangers.

"Jayden, Kevin, Mia, Mike and Antonio," he said and saw a look of confusion on the former yellow Ranger's face when she counted six Rangers instead of only five, "Antonio is the first Samurai in his family."

"Old friend of Jayden's," Antonio nodded. "I'm the gold Ranger."

"You look so much like your parents," Emily and Serena's mother commented to the current Samurai. "Speaking of, I know it's been a long time since you've seen them, but how are they?"

"Good," was the response from everyone and a conversation started up. The Samurai told Emily and Serena's parents all they needed to know about their adventures as Samurai and the challenges they had face. Serena cringed when Dekker was mentioned and had to hold back her tears as her friends told her parents about everything he had done up until right before he fell madly in love with Serena. She saw her father tensing up when he heard Dekker wanted to kill Jayden, then Jack looked ready to hurt him when he heard he had kidnapped Kevin. But what scared Serena most was the look in his eyes when Jack learned Dekker had kidnapped and beaten Emily. She gulped and took her sister's hand. She wasn't sure she would live to see the second trimester of her pregnancy. Not when her father learned she was pregnant with the child of the man who tried to kill her baby sister.

Jack didn't add much to the conversation between his wife and the Rangers. He didn't have anything to share like his wife did. He had never been a Samurai, and while he was interested in hearing about their adventures, he knew he was here for a reason. If Emily wasn't dead, there was something else that was wrong. Surely Ji wouldn't have invited them over just so Serena could announce she was back from Japan.

"Alright, let's hear it," Jack said when there was a pause in the conversation and he knew it was time to move onto serious matters. "Why are we here?"

Subtle glances from the Rangers were cast to Serena. She noticed them all, but her parents were oblivious. They were too busy looking at Mentor, waiting for an answer from him.

Mentor pointed their stares to Serena, "Your daughter has something to tell you."

"Thanks, Mentor," Serena muttered, the sarcasm evident in her voice for everyone but her parents. She looked down at her hands. She had practiced talking to her parents for hours with Emily, but now she couldn't remember how she wanted to tell them. Her hands shook from terror; she could feel sweat forming on her brow as she hesitated to spit it out. The longer she waited, the more her imagination took control as she pictured all the different endings to this horror story. She had no idea what her parents were going to say and how they were going to react. She was scared her ending wasn't going to be a happy one.

Her mother was the first to notice she was beginning to feel distressed, "Serena, sweetie, what's wrong?" she asked her daughter and noticed Serena flinched. Instantly she was on her feet and her arms were wrapped tightly around her firstborn. "Serena, what is it? You can tell me. You can tell me anything."

This only made Serena feel worse. Her parents had no idea. Tears spilled over, down her cheeks and now her mother was really worried. She cast a glance over to Emily. Her youngest seemed nervous and almost scared for her sister. Now the older woman was really getting worried. She knelt down before her daughter and looked into Serena's eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked Serena and saw her daughter was now crying. She tried wiping the tears away but they were coming down so quickly she couldn't dry her daughter's cheeks. She placed her hand on Serena's forehead, "Are you ill? Serena, can you breathe?"

Now Jack was really alert. There was nothing but fear and worry in his eyes. His muscles tensed up in alarm.

"Serena…"

"She's not sick," Emily assured her parents before they started to worry. Her mother looked at her quickly and then placed her focus back on Serena.

"Baby, everything's going to be okay. Talk to me, please. What happened? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry…" Serena whispered. Her mother shook her head.

"No, no, Serena, it's okay. We'll help you. Whatever it is…" Serena whispered something her mother didn't catch. "What was that?"

"I'm…" Serena's voice was barely a whisper for the last part. Her mother leaned in closer.

"Speak up, sweetheart."

"I'm pregnant," Serena finally managed to say it loud enough for the room to hear. Her mother backed away. Jack looked ready to kill. Neither said anything, though, which confirmed Serena's fears. She had disappointed them. Without another word she got off her stool and ran out of the room.

"Go after her," Emily begged her parents but they didn't move. "Mom, dad... go after her!"

"Emily…" her mother started and to Emily it sounded like an excuse. She shook her head and ran after her sister.

Mike got up to go after the two girls but there was a low growl from Jack that sent shivers down his spine.

"You will go nowhere near my daughter," he got up from his chair and stood over Mike. He was still tense. He was still threatening. Mike looked up as the big man huffed and he feared for his life. Just when Mike thought he was going to die, Jack stormed off, leaving in the opposite direction from his daughters.

Serena and Emily's mother was the only one left. The Rangers looked at her, wondering what she would do. She looked at them.

"I have questions."

"You should really talk to Serena about…"

"When did this happen?" the former yellow insisted, interrupting Jayden. There was hesitation so she shouted it, "When did this happen?"

"She's eight weeks along," Mia whispered, hoping her head wouldn't be chewed off for answering.

"Who did this? Was it…?"

"No one here," Mia promised.

"Who?" Serena and Emily's mother was now asking Mia questions directly, to which the boys were all relieved. Mia was the only person who couldn't have gotten Serena pregnant, especially when it seemed like the angry mother didn't believe it wasn't one of the boys who knocked her up.

Mia didn't say anything. It wasn't her place, even if she knew the answer. Serena and Emily's mother wasn't happy.

"Tell me!" she shouted.

"Dekker…" Mia whispered.

"What?" the former Samurai had heard the current pink Ranger, but she couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was no way the psychotic, blood-thirsty warrior who tried to kill her youngest daughter was the father of her grandchild.

"Dekker," Mia repeated. "Serena and Dekker were in love."

"Were?"

"I shouldn't be… Emily?"

Emily was standing in the doorway in tears.

"I don't know what to do," Emily whispered. Her eyes were on her friends, but they strayed to her mother, hoping she would come to help. Her mother made no move to help her daughter, but Emily saw Mia and Kevin getting off their stools and Mike offered her a comforting smile.

"I'll talk to her," he mouthed to Emily and then gestured to her mother. Emily nodded.

Mia raced passed her to comfort Serena while Kevin wrapped his arms around Emily and walked her away.


	12. Make Or Break The Family

_Author's note: This is the second to last chapter of this story and this will be the final story before I go back into my "Season Two" for Way the Samurai. Now that the episodes are coming back (hopefully without a long gap) I can piece all the parts of the story together without seperating them into sections for you guys to find. And hopefully it'll be easier for me now that you guys aren't 3-10 chapters behind and we can all enjoy the Samurai Journey together._

_Enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

><p>Mike now faced the awkward challenge of talking to the mother of his girlfriend about a personal family matter he really didn't have any say in. Emily was his girlfriend, not Serena, but Serena meant so much to Emily he was making this his business.<p>

He turned to his girlfriend's mother once Kevin, Mia and Emily were gone, "This hasn't been easy for them."

"If he had taken advantage of her that would be one thing," she growled, collecting her things as she started to leave, "She gave herself to a Nighlok! One that tried to kill her sister!"

"Don't you think we've figured that out? But Serena and Dekker were in love! Dekker did everything for her…"

"Except care for his unborn child…"

"Look, Dekker's a monster now," Jayden interjected. "He's not going to be around and you don't want him around…"

"I've heard enough," the former yellow Ranger pushed herself out of her seat and stormed out of the room. The boys all eyed each other nervously before Mentor Ji got up and followed her.

-Samurai-

"Serena…"

"Don't tell me they'll come around!" Serena screamed to Mia as the pink Ranger tried to comfort her. "They're not! I screwed up!"

"Calm down…"

"No!"

"Serena…"

"No!"

"This isn't good for you or the baby."

"I don't care. I don't want the baby. Not if it means this…"

"Serena, you're not thinking straight," Mia gently grabbed the older Samurai's arm and sat her down on the bed. She sat with Serena and held her hand comfortingly, "Take a few deep breaths. Your parents were always going to be angry at first. They're upset. This is huge for them."

"Never this upset," Serena muttered as she laid her head on Mia's shoulder. She glanced over at Emily and noticed her little sister seemed even more upset than she was. Kevin was holding her tight, as if trying to protect her from all the tension and anger. Serena sighed, "Emy, you don't have to choose. If you want to be with mom and dad…"

Emily shook her head, "They'll make me choose against you. I want to be with you. I want to help you, remember?"

"Emy, this is too big. You don't deserve to be put through this…"

"I don't care."

"She's sticking with you, Serena," Kevin smiled. "There's no stopping her."

"Mom and dad will come around," Emily said to her sister. "They love you. They can't just…"

"Some families don't understand that."

"We're not those families."

"Emy…"

"Mom said she would help you. She said you could tell her anything and that she would help you, no matter what."

"She didn't think I would be…"

"No matter what," Emily repeated and Serena sighed. Her little sister wasn't getting it. She held out her hand, inviting Emily over. She pulled the youngest Samurai into her arms and whispered words she didn't believe.

"You're right."

-Samurai-

"I don't know about you guys, but I could sure use a good Nighlok attack right about now," Mike muttered as he stared at the clock. Serena and Emily had run off long ago, followed closely by Jack, who had gone in the other direction, and then, only a short time ago, the former yellow Ranger had disappeared with Mentor Ji.

"Where's Master Xandred when you need him?" Antonio sighed loudly. His eyes widened when Jack walked back into the room.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Jack whispered, taking a seat in the circle with the boys. They were all startled and on the defensive, terrified he was going to take out his anger at Serena on them.

"Your wife knows who the father is, we may as well…"

"Is the son of a bitch going to take care of my daughter?" Jack asked Jayden and the red Ranger shook his head. Jack scoffed, "Then what makes you think I care enough about the bastard to learn his name? I don't want to know anything about him. He's dead to me."

"But…"

"I don't care," Jack stated firmly and Jayden didn't press on further. It was his choice; the red Ranger just hoped he wouldn't regret it. Jack shifted in his seat; his eyes fell onto all the boys, "I was your age once. Living with three beautiful women would have been a dream for me, so I know what you're all thinking."

"They've been treated with nothing but respect," Mike insisted, hoping Jack would understand he was telling him he would never do anything of the kind to Emily. They weren't ready to take the step that put them at risk for having kids, and even if they were, if Mike found out Emily was pregnant with his child, he would support her, no matter what.

Jack nodded his head, "If you boys are telling the truth, you're definitely special men. At your age, I wasn't. No one I knew thought much of the women they ran into. They only wanted one thing: sex. That's why I insisted my girls wait."

"You can't protect them forever," Antonio said. "They are going to make mistakes. Everyone does."

"Don't I know it," Jack nodded. He looked at the boys, "Have you ever heard of a one night stand?"

"That's not what happened to Serena…"

"I'm not talking about my daughter, boy," Jack glared at Mike. "I used to be the king of one night stands. I was never one to make commitments. I walked into bars, got drunk and slept with women. Every night I promised women I was in love with them. Love at first sight. I never meant what I said and I didn't care if the women believed me. By the time the sun was up, I would be gone. The only responsible thing I did was use protection; every time. Like I said, I was never one to make commitments, and there was no bigger commitment than a child."

"You used to… sleep around?" Antonio asked nervously. Jack seemed a little more settled, but Antonio was still scared the man-beast would turn on him.

Jack nodded his head, "Almost every night when I was your age. I would work day in and day out for my father and the money I made would go to buying girls drinks to get them drunk."

"That's… horrible."

"I'm not proud of it," Jack said, "but like I said, I always used protection, except once. I hadn't planned on drinking that night but there was this one woman sitting in the bar and… well I've never seen anyone more beautiful. To this very day, aside from my two girls, no one has taken my breath away quite like this woman."

"Uh," Mike rubbed the back of his neck, "Your wife might still…"

"She knows the story," Jack said. "Anyways, I bought the woman a drink and promised her the world. She bought it. Every line. I had her right where I wanted her. I got her to take me home and we had sex."

"Should you really be telling us this?" Jayden asked.

"Shut up and listen," Jack growled. "In the morning, I did what I always did. I got up and walked away. I never gave the woman a second thought. I had my way with her. I was done. I didn't see her again until six months later. We met again at the tack shop in town. I couldn't help but notice she was pregnant."

"Whoa…" Mike and Antonio breathed. Jayden seemed really uncomfortable.

"Do Emily and Serena…?"

"Do you boys have problems with your tongues?" Jack asked them. "I thought I told you to shut up."

"Shutting up," they all nodded their heads and Jack was free to speak.

"When I heard the baby was mine, for sure, I couldn't believe it. I did not want a child. I didn't want to be there for the remaining three months of the pregnancy. I didn't want to be there for the birth. I didn't want to know the sex of the child. I didn't want to see it take its first steps. I did not want kids. But my mother was with me that day. I didn't want to do any of those things for my child or its mother, but for three months I was forced to support the woman I knocked-up. All the money I earned working went to my child. Car seats, cribs, clothes, diapers, everything a child needs. My mother even made me start saving up for college. I was not happy.

"Finally, after three long months, nine for the poor woman, the day had come," Jack continued, "I was visiting her to give her another bag of clothes and toys for the baby when her water broke. Her parents were out of the house and she had no one but me to help her. I took her to the hospital and before I knew it I was watching my very first child come into this world. I still didn't want to care for the child as I watched the doctors clean and hand the baby over to its mother. I hated commitment, I didn't want children. Then I heard the words that changed my life forever: 'Do you want to hold her?' I said yes, without realising I had said it and suddenly a child was in my arms. I was disgusted, terrified, and clueless until this little baby girl opened her eyes and looked up at me. I fell in love. For the very first time, I fell in love. Just like with all the other girls I had met in my life, I promised her the world. I promised her everything good. The only difference was that I meant every word I said. I did not lie to this child."

"That's beautiful," Antonio whispered.

"Her mother and I had no idea what to name her," Jack said, "I never wanted to be in her life so the thought never crossed my mind, and her mother had been so busy getting ready for her arrival that it slipped her mind. My daughter slept peacefully in my arms while her mother and I argued over what we were going to do with her. She didn't like that I had changed my mind. She couldn't trust that I would be committed. I insisted I would. I promised I would help her with everything, starting with the name. She gave me one chance; one chance to do everything perfectly. I couldn't screw up. I wouldn't let myself screw up, and I certainly wasn't going to screw up naming my daughter. I looked back at her. Still, so peaceful, so calm. I felt relaxed. I felt at peace. Finally I suggested a name. The perfect name: Serena."

Jaws hit the floor and Jack knew the boys now understood why he was telling this story, but he still wasn't done.

"It doesn't always work out like that, though" he said. "My wife was lucky. She and I worked together to care for Serena. Day in and day out, we were a team. Neither of us was going to leave our daughter, no matter how challenging things were. A relationship eventually grew, we fell in love, and shortly before Serena's second birthday we were married. Both of us knew we were one of the lucky few who got their happy ending, but I know just how easily things could have been different. I could have chosen to walk away and leave my family to suffer. Serena could have been without a father."

"You did the right thing," Jayden smiled.

"Not every boy does," Jack sighed, "That is why this is hard for us. We never wanted Serena or Emily to go through what we could have gone through, and I don't want them to have to go through what I put so many women through. I can't do anything for the women, but I can protect my daughters."

"Something tells me you've never had a problem protecting them," Antonio whispered.

Mike wasn't joking around. He looked at Jack, "Serena's going to need you. You may not be the boyfriend of the knocked up mother, but if you walk away you're just going to be the man you almost were."

"I know," Jack pushed himself off his stool, "Where is Serena?"

Mike, Antonio and Jayden smiled as they led Jack to his daughter.

When the door opened and Serena saw her father she was terrified. Jack walked in slowly and approached his daughter. He knelt down in front of her and took her hand. Serena began to sob and threw herself into his arms.


	13. Bitter Ending

_Author's Note: The final chapter. If you don't have me on author alert, look out for the rest of the series in Way of the Samurai: The Battle Continues. For now, I leave you with the ending to The Samurai Team._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>Mentor Ji found the former yellow Ranger sitting in the garden, on the same bench Emily always sat on when she was upset or worried. He sighed loudly as he walked over to her and took a seat.<p>

"Your daughters are just like you," he said. "I see more of you in Serena than in Emily, but it's definitely there for both of them."

"I'm not going back in there," she whispered, putting her head in her hands and breathing loudly. "I can't go back in there. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't let my daughters pass on the yellow Samurai powers to a Nighlok."

"The Samuraizer belongs to Emily," Mentor Ji said. "If she chooses, the yellow Samuraizer may go to her own child, regardless of birth order."

"Don't let me think about that. It's bad enough Serena's pregnant with a Nighlok's…"

"He was only half."

"It doesn't matter," she yelled. "This shouldn't have happened. How could you let it happen?"

"I have no control …"

"You should!" she shouted to Mentor, glaring angrily at him. "You're responsible for them. When I sent Emily here I thought you would take care of her."

"Emily is not the one who is pregnant," Mentor reminded her. "And I cannot control how Serena behaves when she is at the Tengen Gate. She fell in love with a man. What she had for Dekker was real…"

"He tried to murder the entire team of Rangers," she growled. "He kidnapped and beat her baby sister and Serena thinks it's okay to let him fuck her."

"What kind of woman do you think your daughter is?" Mentor asked. "Serena may have fallen for Dekker, but the one thing she never let him do was harm Emily or any of the Rangers on this team. It was thanks to Serena we made a friend out of Dekker. He's turned away from us now, but he has helped us. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here."

Mentor placed a hand on his former Ranger's shoulder, "You want the best for your daughter. That much is clear to me. You do not want her making the same mistakes you made."

"You know the story, Mentor. I know I was lucky. For me, it all worked out. Serena's not going to get that. She's going to be all alone."

"With a team like this one, she'll never be alone. Whether or not her mother decides to help her, Serena's going to have all the support she needs."

Mentor gave his former yellow a tap on the shoulder before he got up and walked away, leaving her to her thoughts.

-Samurai-

Jack held his daughter gently by the upper arms as he looked into her eyes softly, "Whatever you need, you'll get from me," he promised her. "Food, money, a babysitter… If you need someone to take you to a doctor's appointment, I'll be there. If you have questions or if you need a place to stay, just ask."

"Thanks, dad," Serena smiled, comforted by the fact that her father seemed to be supporting her, but she had to wonder where her mother was. Originally, she had thought her father would be the one to leave her while her mother sympathised with her a little more. She only thought that because she assumed her mother would know how difficult pregnancy was and she would want to help her daughter. Her big fear and more dominant thought before telling her parents was that they were both going to leave, but if one of them stayed, Serena would have put her money on her mother.

"Anytime," Jack hugged her again. "Are you sure you want to stay here at the Shiba House? No matter what your mother says, there's room for you at home."

"I feel better here," Serena nodded and then smiled at Emily, "I've got my sister helping me."

"I'm always on call, though," Jack promised, "twenty-four/seven. Whenever you need me, I'll be there."

"It'll take a few hours," Emily chuckled, knowing the drive from the farm to the Shiba House was a long one, "but eventually he'll turn up."

"Try to give me notice if possible," Jack nodded his head and then turned to look up at the rest of the Rangers, "You'll all take care of her, right?"

"Of course," Jayden nodded, speaking for the group. "That was the plan right from the start."

"Well, after we got over the shock," Antonio admitted. "And figured out what was best for her, for us and for the baby… ow."

The gold Ranger rubbed his ribs after being nudged by Kevin. He glared at the blue Ranger. The swimmer just rolled his eyes.

"Shut up."

"Got it."

"And you boys will keep your filthy hands off Emily," Jack stated, shooting a quick glare Mike's way before looking at the other boys. He knew Jayden, Antonio and Kevin weren't supposed to know that Jack knew Mike was dating his daughter, but he had to make sure Mike was getting the message (and the other boys. He knew what they were like).

"Dad…" Emily frowned.

Jack turned to Emily, "Just because I'm fine with being a grandfather early does not give you permission to let these boys…"

"Dad!"

"I don't think we have to worry about Emily," Serena pointed her eyes right at Mike as she wrapped her arms around her sister. Mike glared back at her.

"I'd love to see you give the abstinence talk when you're further along in your pregnancy and you're waddling through the halls with a huge, expanding stomach."

Serena stuck her tongue out at Mike. He rolled his eyes.

"And you think I'm immature."

There was a knock on the door as it opened. The room looked to see who was coming in. Serena felt a small smile on her lips when she saw it was her mother.

However, her mother didn't smile in return. She didn't even look at Serena. She kept her focus on Jack.

"We have a long drive home," she said sadly. "We should think about leaving…"

"Mom…"

"Take care, Emily," her mother said to her, making sure her eyes never met Serena's. She couldn't look at her eldest daughter. She hated what had happened to her and she was terrified this would ruin Serena forever.

"Don't you have something to say?" Jack gestured to Serena as he spoke to his wife. She shook her head.

"It's time to go."

"Not until you…"

"Until I what, Jack? I will not stand here and lie to my daughter."

"Mom…"

"Emily, it's fine," Serena took her sister's hand. "I don't want mom to lie to me."

"You said no matter what," Emily glared at her mother.

"Let's go, Jack. Be safe, Rangers…"

"You said…"

"I know what I said, Emily. Jack, get in the car."

Jack nodded and took his two daughters in his arms, giving them a final hug before he left. His wife stayed behind for a minute. Finally her eyes met Serena's.

"It's not that I don't love you…"

"I know," Serena nodded. She placed her hand on her stomach. "This will happen with or without you."

"I know."

"Mom…" Emily called as he mother turned and walked away. She felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her and leaned into them. Mike held her warmly, knowing this was upsetting for her. Even he was hurt by her mother's actions. He couldn't imagine what Emily was going through, and he didn't want to put himself in Serena's shoes, knowing she was probably completely devastated.

Serena was, but she didn't let it show. It didn't matter how she felt. Her mother would come around when she was ready. The only thing she could do was help herself and move on from this. There was no sense waiting for something that might never happen.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out some money. Without Emily knowing she gave it to Mike.

"The aquarium," she whispered. "Come home whenever."

"I'll know when," Mike assured her before ushering Emily out of the room.

Mia approached Serena, "Are you okay?"

Serena nodded her head, "I've got dad's support, and it's not like mom was going to be around anyways."

"Still…"

"I'm fine," Serena lied.

"You've got us," Kevin said to her. "All of us."

"Thanks, guys. Do you mind leaving me alone for a bit? I'm a little tired."

"Sure," Jayden nodded as he led the way out of the room. He, as well as the others, could guess Serena wasn't going to be napping, but she was going to need time.

While Jayden and Antonio made their way to the dojo, both needing to let off a little steam after what they had seen, Mia stopped just outside Serena's room. She leaned against the opposite wall and sunk down. Kevin saw her and sat next to her. He took her hand in his gently and kissed her.

"She'll talk when she's ready."

"I want to be there when she's ready," Mia said. Kevin nodded his head.

"Me too," he squeezed her hand before wrapping her up in his arms and holding her gently. "We will figure this out. It will get better."

"I hope so."

"It will. We'll just… go from here. Take the challenges as they come."


End file.
